POTTSTOWN PA – The New Year’s Day tradition that involves turning warm, sometimes scantily clad bodies into human popsicles – the Polar Bear Plunge at Pottstown’s Riverfront Park off College Drive – returns Sunday (Jan. 1, 2012) with the anticipated dip into the icy Schuylkill River and other activities that make the event worth attending and watching.

Hundreds of onlookers, and a few dozen brave but shivering swimmers, arrive every year at the park for the fun. It’s free, it’s open to the public, and organizers say they’ll practically guarantee visitors will have a good time. The swim registration starts at 9 a.m., followed by a couple of speeches at 10, the lighting of the borough’s flesh-warming bonfire at 10:15, and the plunge itself at 10:30.

Unless you plan to get wet of your own accord – that is, you’re willing to take a dive – better bring an umbrella along. Most weather forecasters predict rain Sunday, although the high temperature should reach 51 degrees. That’s later in the day, sadly; the morning thermometer is likely to read somewhere in the 30-degree range.

• Want an advance peek at what’ll happen? Watch a video (above) of last year’s (2011) edition of the plunge, or see it at The Post’s YouTube user account.

Pallets are already stacked in the park by the riverside, ready to be set afire Sunday

Other coverage:

• New Year’s Day event keeps growing (The Mercury)