Minnesotans Weigh In On 2021: Fresh Start? Or Same Old, Same Old?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's safe to say many were happy to see 2020 come to a close, but the reality is: Things don't change overnight.
Friends Jeff Spohn and Cesar Vasquez spent their first day of 2021 going for a walk in Loring Park. They say it's too early to truly celebrate 2021 as a "fresh start."
"Rainbows are a little hard to find out there right now," said Spohn. "The COVID thing is going to be overhanging everything."
"I hope the businesses open soon because we need to work," said Vasquez.
While the two are being realistic about the state of our world, still, they are patiently holding onto hope.
"[I'm] waiting for good things, and I know good things are coming," said Vasquez.
Out in Excelsior, 200 Minnesotans found their fresh start to 2021 by jumping into a freezing Lake Minnetonka.
"When we jump in that water, you wash away all that was last year, you get a whole new start," Brian Sobocinski, of St. Paul, said.
Whether an ice dive was a resolution or just something fun to do for charity, it set up a motto for David Begg's year.
"When we do this, the next thing you know – if I can do this? I can do anything," said Begg.
The year 2020 ended strong for newlyweds, Lief and Karolina Kjorness, and they're carrying that energy into the new year.
"You have to wake up and embrace the day the universe is giving you a second chance at life. Every day is a new day," said Kjorness.
This was the 31st year of that ice dive in Excelsior. They raised around $9,000 for Excelsior fire and police departments, as well as the Wounded Warrior Project.