ROGERS PARK — If ever there's been a symbolic way for Chicagoans to "kill" winter and usher in spring, Saturday's event in Rogers Park just may be it.
The 7th Annual Winter Death March will take place at 12 p.m. Saturday at Howard Street Beach, 7522 N. Eastlake Terrace, to the tune of bagpipes and followed by a "burning of grievances" Seinfeld-style.
The "death march" consists of running and jumping into the lake around the official time the season changes to spring, similar to the Polar Plunge done annually to benefit the Special Olympics.
He's not yet paired with a charity to fundraise for the plunge, but said he would love to eventually raise money through the event that can go to a good cause.
"I thought it'd be fun to throw a party for them ... and I had always wanted to do a polar plunge," said Andy Smerczak-Zorza, who created the event in 2009 when a family friend came to visit from Norway during the Spring Equinox.
"The whole party is a joke — that by bravely doing a polar plunge, we can 'kill' winter and forcibly bring on spring."
Anyone is welcome to the neighborhood event, and no one is required to plunge (though it is highly encouraged).
Smerczak-Zorza said he expects at least about 70 people to come out for the event, with about 15 or 20 jumping in.
In 2011, the year of a "Snowpocolypse" snow storm that shut down Lake Shore Drive, Smerczak-Zorza said he began the "Wall of Winter Grievances" tradition.
Smerczak-Zorza said he was inspired by the famous Seinfeld holiday spoof "Festivus," in which people "air grievances" to family members about all the ways they'd been peeved by them throughout the year.
At Saturday's "Wall of Winter Grievances" burning, Smerczak-Zorza said participants write "screw you" letters to winter and put them in a cardboard box, which they then symbolically set on fire as a way to "make space" for Spring.
Bagpipes became involved in 2013, and the song "Scotland The Brave" is played while marchers head into the lake, followed by a more upbeat tune as they leave the frigid waters.
A bonfire and cookout will cap off the night.
A Rogers Park resident for nearly a decade, Smerczak-Zorza said the event is meant to unite neighbors in a fun way over something he's sure they can all agree on: Enough with winter already.
"It's honestly just like a fun time for the neighborhood to come together," Smerczak-Zorza said. "It's at the point of the year when people usually don't go outside, but this is a fun occasion to do that."
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