Despite blizzard conditions, thousands gave up their snow gear for swimsuits and flocked to the Chesapeake Bay, which served as centerpiece Saturday for the 14th annual 2010 Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge.

Hundreds of plunges take place across the country each year, but the event just north of the Bay Bridge at Sandy Point State Park, better known as Plungapalooza, is the largest in the nation. More than 25,000 participants ran into the Chesapeake Bay at one of two main plunges at 1 p.m., the Baltimore Sun reported. Though the second planned plunge, at 3 p.m., was canceled because of the 5 inches of snow that fell, Plungapalooza still raised $2.7 million for the Special Olympics Maryland.

What started as a local fundraiser in 1997, when 350 people showed up to take the first frigid dip into the Chesapeake, has become a day-long shore-side festival that attracts such high-powered plungers as Governor Martin O’Malley and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Plungapalooza traces its success from many roots, one of these the community-building power of the Bay, an environmental and cultural epicenter of the state.

Another plunge into the Chesapeake Bay earlier this year strove to help protect that status. On Jan. 23, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network sponsored its fifth annual Polar Bear Plunge outside the Chesapeake Bay Foundation office in Annapolis to support the fight against global warming, which has caused water levels and temperatures to rise and threaten the Bay’s health. Almost 350 people participated, according to CCAN’s Web site, to help keep winter cold enough and the Chesapeake healthy enough that the chilly traditions can continue.