WHITEFISH — The Whitefish Winter Carnival is one of the Flathead's biggest parties, and the 67th annual event brought hundreds of people together despite unusually warm weather.
This year's carnival looked different from previous years due to the weather conditions. While last year featured snow falling like a winter wonderland, this year brought warm and sunny skies, although Whitefish Lake remained cold as ice for the Penguin Plunge.
Kicking off the carnival, around 370 people from 40 different plunge teams ran into Whitefish Lake to raise over $100,000 for the Montana Special Olympics.
"We're just super passionate about our mission of raising awareness and creating more inclusive communities through the power of sport and so when we see crowds like this out here supporting our mission, it just makes me smile, it's an incredible thing," said Montana Special Olympics LETR senior director Amy Bliss.
Check out the sights and sounds from the 67th annual Whitefish Winter Carnival:
One of the brave plungers was Colby Baker with Logan Health.
"Nice, beautiful Montana summer today. It was cold, but we got her done," said Baker, who took part in the plunge to help the cause as well as bond with his community.
"I think it's an amazing opportunity give everybody a chance to perform athletically and that's something that we can all bond together as a community and really come together for," Baker said.
The plunge was just the beginning, as a few hours later, the streets of Whitefish were packed with citizens and floats, like First Interstate Bank, honoring the "Out of This World" theme.
"Planet, Stars, Galaxy, and shooting off into space to go achieve your dreams for all your banking needs at First Interstate!" said Katie Williams, a mortgage loan officer for First Interstate Bank.
Williams says her favorite part of the Winter Carnival is seeing everyone come together.
"This is our favorite event, it's great to see everybody celebrate, have a good time, people of all walks of life, all ages coming together to celebrate winter and all that is wonderful about Whitefish," Williams said.
