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WHITEFISH- Whitefish is best known for its skiing in the winter but on Saturday hundreds of tourists and local residents opted to head to the beach instead.

The Whitefish Winter Carnival kicked off this weekend with the highly anticipated Penguin Plunge and teams from all over the Flathead Valley jumped, dove, and even flopped into the freezing winter waters, to help raise money for the Special Olympics Montana State Winter Games.

Many of the teams this year are repeat plungers-including the "Flying Penguins," who have raised the most money for Special Olympics for the last three years.

We talked with a new member of the squad this year, who said being able to raise money for a local cause was well worth taking a dip into the arctic waters.

"I love my community and I love making sure that everybody flourishes here. It's just really nice to make sure everybody is coming together and keeping everything here-and looking out for each other. It's great," said plunger, Billy Oursland.

The Flying Penguins were able to raise more than $8,000 this year for the Special Olympics, which will take place in Whitefish this March.