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Run Out

Dippers run out of the cold water at Quaddick Pond in Thompson, at the 2016 Turkey Dip. Photo by John D. Ryan.

 

 

40th Turkey Dip

nets $20,000-plus

THOMPSON — Jim Mahoney looked out at Quaddick Pond. It was an overcast Thanksgiving Day morning, with the air right at freezing, minutes before the 40th Annual Turkey Dip was to take place. About 140 dippers were getting ready, standing on the state park’s beach, stripping off their outer clothes to reveal bathing suits underneath. They would soon run into the water. The dippers smiled and laughed, even as they shivered. 

Nobody knew for sure exactly what the water temperature was, but there was no ice, so it was above 32 degrees.

“We’ve raised a total of just over half-a-million dollars for muscular dystrophy over the last 40 years,” said James D. Mahoney, of Putnam, who’s in his 12th and final year chairing the Turkey Dip. 

"We’re just over $15,000 at the moment for this year, but there’s more money coming in, so we hope to get $20,000, which would be more than last year.

Dippers collected money from donors, in return for them taking a full-body dip in the pond. 

This year’s donations are being split evenly between the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Connecticut and Camp Quinebaug, located in Danielson. 

The nonprofit Camp Quinebaug provides programs for school age children with special needs in northeastern Connecticut.

Mahoney said there are big changes, coming next year, however. Camp Quinebaug with be taking over the event, moving it from Quaddick Pond, where it’s been held for 25 years, to the camp’s property on Wauregan Reservoir.

‘Life expectancies have doubled’

Mahoney said it’s all been worthwhile. “Muscular dystrophy research and treatment has come a long way in the last 40 years,” he said. 

“Since we started, life expectancies have doubled. I’m really proud of how the community has come together to support this.”

Mahoney is a member of Putnam’s Knights of Columbus Cargill Council 64. Members of the council helped to found the Turkey Dip for MDA in 1977. The Catholic fraternal group was a co-sponsor of the 2016 event, as was Putnam radio station WINY, Putnam Bank, Wheelabrator of Putnam, Rawson Materials and Marianapolis Preparatory School.

Mahoney said the Turkey Dip started on Thanksgiving Day, 1977, when a bunch of friends decided to jump into Alexander Lake in Dayville, just before leaving for the annual Putnam-Killingly high school football game. 

No one remembers why. 

The next Thanksgiving, more friends joined the group and took the plunge, so the Turkey Dip tradition was born. 

In 1981, Woodstock native Troy Almquist, who was then an infant nephew of one of the dippers, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. Because of Almquist, the group decided to start raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Connecticut. 

They moved their effort to Quaddick Pond in Thompson in 1991. Almquist died in 2005, at the age of 24.

This year, donations are still needed. To donate, please call Mahoney, at (860) 933-6817.