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July 2016 President's Message
by Richard Mason
Haulover 25th Anniversary celebration
July 9-10, 2016
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South Florida Free Beaches / Florida Naturist Association, Inc. (SFFB/FNA) and B.E.A.C.H.E.S Foundation Institute are marking the 25th Anniversary of Haulover Naturist Beach with a major event on Haulover Beach in the area of Lifeguard Tower 15. Festivities include free anniversary cake and lemonade at the nearby North Chickee (thatch-roofed canopy) as well as naturist travel exhibitors, food trucks, merchandise vendors, live entertainment, and a raffle and auction for great, naturist vacation prizes. See the article below for details.
Volunteers are needed to help set up canopies on Friday, July 8 from 4 to 7 p.m. and to help break down late Sunday afternoon, July 10. We may also need a few volunteers to stay on the beach overnight to provide security for our canopies and other gear. Call Richard ASAP at (305) 283-3633.
25 years! Wow, who knew?!
As SFFB President, I want to thank all those who have been visiting Haulover's naturist beach these past 25 years. Your attendance has made the continued use of our portion of Haulover Beach Park possible and, by your numbers and your behavior, you have made local, state, and national government officials aware of not only the demand for designated naturist beaches, but also the large number of citizens and tourists that enjoy nude beach facilities.
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South Florida — A Naturist Perspective
SFFB President Richard Mason's monthly column in NUSA Sun
June 2016: The Respect They Deserve
Richard reminds readers of the upcoming Haulover Beach 25th Anniversary celebration, July 9-10, and discusses appreciation for veterans in a nod to the patriotic season between Memorial Day and Independence Day. Read...
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From day one, we were told by many local and state officials that our naturist beach would not last very long because beach visitors, being nude, would succumb to sexual behavior and they, the government officials, were there to close the beach. To quote, "We will be watching you."
We were told that, just because SFFB wanted the designated naturist beach facility and we proved to them that being merely nude, absent inappropriate sexual behavior on a public beach in an area set apart for that purpose, was legal, it did not mean that they had to accept it. We were also told that, if SFFB wanted the beach, then we would have to accept responsibility for it. We did and we have done so, accomplishing what we promised.
The day we opened the beach, we initiated the Beach Ambassador (BA) Program (see related article below). Of all the programs we have initiated, the BA Program is the most important one, resulting in keeping Haulover's naturist beach open for 25 years.
All visitors to Haulover owe a big thank-you to those Beach Ambassadors, past and present, that have walked the beach, often in the hot sun, helped visitors with questions, provided information on many issues, intervened to help the ill and the heat stroke victims by reporting emergencies to Ocean Rescue (lifeguards), and, when necessary, reported inappropriate behavior to the authorities.
The 36th birthday of South Florida Free Beaches, Inc. is also this month. During July 1980, Tom Chittenden and Barbara Kahn-Peterson, both with groups that were regular visitors to the cove beach on Virginia Key, where they skinny-dipped and socialized, sometimes while a Miami Vice segment was being taped just across the water at a fishing shack operation. With the encouragement of Lee Baxandall of The Naturist Society, they merged their groups and incorporated South Florida Free Beaches, Inc. (See related historical article below.)
Soon after, the City of Miami gave warning that it was going to close the cove beach to nudity. Not willing to give up their little bit of paradise, South Florida Free Beaches filed a lawsuit against the City of Miami. When the court ruled in favor of the City, the leaders of SFFB filed in the Court of Appeals. They lost to Miami in that court also. Miami geared up its defense team with city, county and state attorneys from all over Florida.
SFFB's one volunteer attorney made a great case, but there was very little settled law on the issue of public nudity in Florida and the words "public" and "nude" in a legal brief, while overbroad, could mean different issues for judges than what was at issue in the cove at Virginia Key. Miami's defense was to use a city code, which was installed with poor wording to cover nude nightclubs, for their justification to close the cove.
This lesson was not lost on the members of SFFB, who, in 1989, put together a written business plan to establish a clothing-optional beach in Miami-Dade County. The execution of that plan took two years of hard work, but that labor resulted in what we are enjoying today, 25 years on Haulover's naturist beach.
Thank you, Tom Chittenden and Barbara Kahn-Peterson, for stepping up publicly, when it was a time in Florida of suppression of public nudity, and establishing South Florida Free Beaches, Inc.
Thank you to the late Lee Baxandall for founding The Naturist Society because you believed that America's naturist citizens had an equal right to access a public beach and for your national and local effort in the establishment of free beach groups around the United States. Haulover is a result of that.
And thank you, Shirley Pickford-Mason, for working side by side with me for the two years, through the many long hours in the law library, and the many, many meetings with city, county and state officials, lawyers, and civil rights groups in our effort to establish a recognized, legal, designated naturist beach in Miami-Dade County.
Also, we all need to thank Ray Maury, of Maury Management Group, Inc., our government affairs lobbyist, for representing SFFB in Miami-Dade County in the beginning, before he moved to Tallahassee, and then before the state legislature for 25 years, through the many yearly battles to keep anti-nudity legislation from becoming Florida law. We acknowledge and are grateful for his long hours with low pay, and now for his returning to Miami-Dade County to represent SFFB and all the beach visitors during the development phase of our effort to get monies put into the 2017 Miami-Dade County budget.
These budget requests are intended to support the needs of the Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department's Haulover Park Beach, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Ocean Rescue (lifeguard service), and the Miami-Dade Police Department. Each of these departments requires additional funds to provide the increased services that SFFB is requesting to make Haulover Naturist Beach a facility that beach visitors can enjoy more safely.
Thank you for your continued support and, if you are not a current member, please consider becoming one — numbers matter. Join at sffb.com or fill out an application on printed page 7 of the Naturist Beach Guide booklet found in the news dispenser boxes on Haulover Beach.
Even if you're not ready to (re)join just yet, please consider donating to SFFB/FNA's Legal Defense & Political Action Fund (not tax-deductible) to help with current challenges. Thanks!
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Reminder: 25th Anniversary of Haulover Naturist Beach (July 9-10, 2016)
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How you can help get the word out
1) Visit the Facebook listing for this event and do the following:
• Click on Going or Interested.
• Click on Invite and select all your friends that may like to attend. Then, click on Send Invites.
• Click on Invite and then on Share Event. Where it says, "Say something about this," enter brief introductory comments such as "Click below to take part in the 25th Anniversary celebration of Haulover Naturist Beach, July 9-10." Select Public or other distribution you're comfortable with, and then click on Post.
• Repeat above step but, instead of the default, Share on your own timeline (near the top of the form), select Share in a group and select appropriate groups to share this with, e.g., other naturist groups you may belong to. You can also share on friends' timelines, as you deem appropriate.
2) Visit the original tweet for this event and retweet it to your Twitter followers.
3) Share this newsletter with friends by directing them to sffb.com/enews.
4) Pick up a bunch of event flyers at Haulover Beach and help hand them out.
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South Florida Free Beaches / Florida Naturist Association (SFFB/FNA) and B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute invite you to celebrate with us on Haulover Beach in Miami the 25th anniversary of Haulover's clothing-optional section on the weekend of July 9-10, 2016. (In case of bad weather, it takes place the following weekend, July 16-17.)
The celebration includes:
• Food and beverage service
• Music and entertainment
• Body-painting
• Volleyball competition (Sign up in advance!)
• Naturist beach merchandise
• Naturist tour and travel auction
Activities and entertainment. Planning is under way for live DJs, serving of anniversary cake, games, and a drum circle. Keep an eye on the 25th Anniversary web page for updates and additions.
Recognition of naturist clubs and other entities. Naturist clubs and entities such as nudist resorts and other businesses from all over the United States and Canada are being invited to attend as a group and fly their banners in a show of naturist unity and diversity. This is targeted for Saturday, July 9, but groups have the option of doing it on Sunday as well.
Naturist expo. Naturist clubs, resorts, and other businesses had an option to rent space for a very limited number of exhibitor booths, and we have signed up some distinguished Legacy Partners for that, listed on the page linked to above and on the flyer to the immediate left. (See and click on their display ads at left, further below, to learn more about them.) Also, select food trucks featuring American and international cuisines have been lined up, and B.E.A.C.H.E.S. is offering merchandise such as T-shirts, beach towels, and sarongs for set donations.
Coming from out of town? We have arranged for special rates at area hotels, but space is filling up fast. We urge immediate reservations for the best selection of rooms. See the list of suggested lodgings in descending order of proximity to Haulover Beach parking. Rates are per room, per night, before taxes (14% in Miami Beach). Tell them you're coming for the Haulover Beach 25th anniversary event.
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Beach Ambassador training
Do you spend a lot of time on Miami's nude beach? If so, you have a chance to give back by volunteering as a Beach Ambassador (BA) to help maintain naturist standards on Haulover Beach and keep it safely nude for all to enjoy. Sign up for and attend a training to become part of a wonderful corps of volunteers.
BAs serve as beach monitors and greeters, a combination of block watch and welcome wagon. For their service, BAs at Haulover Beach get a cool hat, ID badge, and free parking on their duty days. Seasonal residents are welcome to participate.
The next Beach Ambassador training is scheduled for Haulover Beach in Miami on Sunday, August 21. The next one after that is on Saturday, November 12. If you have any questions or wish to sign up for a training session, contact Ken.
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Treasure Coast Naturists update
In honor of Nude Recreation Week (July 4-10), Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN) in Fort Pierce, FL conducts its 2nd Annual Blind Creek Beach Skinny-Dip on Sunday, July 10 at 2:00 p.m. Expectations are strong to exceed last year's crowd of 123 skinny-dippers in the water at one time.
The following Sunday, July 17 at 8:30 a.m., the TCN Board holds a community meeting for all friends of Blind Creek Beach under the pavilion near the parking lot trailhead of the dune crossover. Suggestions and questions are welcome.
The 3rd Annual Blind Creek Beach Cleanup takes place on Saturday, September 17, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in coordination with International Coastal Cleanup Day. Volunteers may enter a raffle to win great prizes of nudist destination vacations.
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New arrests of top-free women in New Hampshire
We have reported in previous issues, most recently, last month's, about the ongoing battle over women's top-free equality in New Hampshire. Current New Hampshire statute does not address exposure of nipples, making top-freedom at the state level a legal fact for males and females alike. That legal silence has been the basis for the New Hampshire House of Representatives' rejection of two separate attempts so far this year to introduce restrictions on top-freedom.
In the latest confrontation involving Free the Nipple activists, a top-free woman was arrested at Weirs Beach in Laconia, NH on May 28 and two more on May 31 for violating a municipal anti-nudity ordinance, which includes a ban on exposure of female nipples. The ordinance was intended ostensibly to put a damper on excesses during the annual Motorcycle Week, but Heidi Lilley, one of the women arrested on May 31, came before the Laconia City Council in mid-June to urge its repeal on U.S. Constitutional grounds. The Council, which had resisted her request to be heard, was not receptive.
Meanwhile, Lilley faces a possible fine of $250 and a court date of July 25. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire is expected to get involved. We will monitor the case and report on developments. For additional details, please read Three arrests for toplessness and When you free the nipple, you're not always free to go.
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Self-service parking now in effect at Haulover Park
Effective June 1, Haulover Park converted its parking system from live fee collectors to self-service under contract with the Miami Parking Authority. Employees that formerly worked in the collection booths remain on site performing enforcement.
Fees are the same as before (see Haulover Park web page), but payment for parking is now via the PayByPhone mobile application or automated phone menu at (866) 234-7275. (If you don't yet have a PayByPhone account, save time by setting one up before your next visit to Haulover.) As an alternative, there are several pay stations, which accept cash and credit cards.
IMPORTANT: When you park, note the location number from the nearest parking sign and remember your vehicle tag (license plate) number. You will need to enter both accurately with your payment to avoid being cited for a parking violation.
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Biscayne Times profiles Oleta River State Park
Just 2.8 miles (3.5 km) from Haulover Beach is the hidden gem of Oleta River State Park, a 1,043-acre (422 hectares) natural preserve on Biscayne Bay featuring mangrove forests, sheltered waters for canoeing and kayaking, miles of challenging trails for dirt biking, rustic cabins (but with electricity and air conditioning) for overnight rental, picnic pavilions, a tropical-style beach, and more.
Biscayne Times, the monthly newspaper for northeastern Miami-Dade County, featured in its May 2016 issue this remarkable, recreational treasure that's literally in the backyard of Haulover Beach. We encourage you to read the article and patronize Oleta River State Park. It's very popular in summer, so arrive early and be sure to reserve in advance any of the limited amenities you may wish to use.
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Police reassure nude bathers on Three Mile Beach
In the May 2015 issue, we reported on continuing strife between users of the traditional, clothing-optional section of Three Mile Beach on Okanagan Lake in Penticton, BC, Canada and new owners of adjacent properties. Attempting to address the matter, the City Council at first directed staff to develop a proposal for a designated clothing-optional beach. Although staff returned with several recommendations, the Council declined, under continuing resistance from property owners, to alter the uneasy status quo on the beach except to call for a stepped-up presence of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
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Three Mile Beach on Okanagan Lake in Penticton, BC, Canada
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On June 7, 2016, a sergeant from Penticton's RCMP detachment assured an official of 3 Mile Naturist Beach Community, one of the local naturist groups, that the police will have no issue this summer with nudity, provided it is limited to the back half of the beach and does not occur near the stairs. The group asks all nude bathers to cooperate with these RCMP guidelines.
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SFFB Board meeting
The Board of Directors of South Florida Free Beaches meets on Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. under the North Chickee (thatch-roofed shade structure) near Lifeguard Tower 15. The meeting is open to SFFB sponsors / members, supporters, and invited guests.
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Nude protest against removal of beach bus stop
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Judy Williams (left), Wreck Beach Preservation
Society Founder and Chair and B.E.A.C.H.E.S.
Board member, leads nude protest on June 5 in
Vancouver against beach bus stop removal.
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Members and friends of Wreck Beach Preservation Society, a B.E.A.C.H.E.S. chapter group, protested nude on the afternoon of June 5 at the site of a former bus stop opposite the trailhead to popular, clothing-optional Wreck Beach in Vancouver, BC, Canada. They objected to the relocation of the stop to several blocks away without a ridership study, proper notice, or public input. They were concerned that the extra distance would be a hardship for bus riders hauling beach gear, especially those with physical challenges.
Judy Williams, who led the protest, stated, "We have 598,796 people who use these trails... [TransLink, Metro Vancouver's regional transportation authority] pulled the plug on us... The naked truth is that they … need to be brought to their senses, and we won't tolerate it." For additional details, read Wreck Beach-goers tear a strip off TransLink for ending bus stop.
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History: Haulover Naturist Beach — Day One
by David Baum, with additional information from Richard Mason
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Haulover Beach on first clothing-optional day, an empty expanse of sand
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Back in 1991, I was a new member of South Florida Free Beaches. I had joined one year earlier and was enjoying the new lifestyle with other club members at house parties, pool parties, boating trips, and a small hotel on Miami Beach that charged three dollars for the use of their gym equipment and nude sunbathing on their rooftop. Although the City of Miami Beach allowed top-free sunbathing, there was no local family beach to enjoy nude sunbathing.
I was interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of this new naturist world I had recently joined, so I attended the Board meetings of South Florida Free Beaches, where I could hear what was planned for our local area and get more information about places around the country.
During the end of 1990 and first months of 1991, I remember Shirley Mason of SFFB was holding seminars in hotels and the community rooms at the Coconut Grove Shopping Center, informing people about the benefits of nude recreation and the search for a local clothing-optional beach. Shirley and her husband, Richard, were also talking to city leaders, police departments, and head lifeguards, informing them of the laws and case histories that allowed "mere nudity," provided it wasn't lewd and lascivious.
I still remember the Board meeting where we were told we would be using the north part of a place called "Haulover Beach" on certain weekends, where we would be "top-free and G-string." The county attorney, the park director, and the police department were informed that the club was going to use the beach nude, according to the laws of the State of Florida. The first day would be Sunday, July 14, 1991, during National Nude Weekend.
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Close-up of banners on Day One; this view appeared in N Magazine.
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The day before that, Saturday, July 13, was spent like some previous National Nude Weekends, aboard a houseboat out in the ocean where we could be nude. Hung over one side of the boat was an aqua banner that read, "A Quest for Clothing-Optional Beaches." Sunday, July 14 was our first day on an empty stretch of beach with no garbage cans or lifeguards. The North Parking Lot wasn't built yet, so we parked further south in Parking Lot #1, and then walked up the beach. In the distance on the empty beach, I could see a few people standing behind the same big, aqua banner used on the previous day’s boating trip as well as other events and boating trips. Now, it was here at the site of the next such quest.
I was surprised that the buildings of Sunny Isles Beach were nearby, the main highway was just past the dunes, and the regular, "textile beach" was an easy walking distance. I had been to a few nude beaches before this. In California, there was a strenuous walk down cliffs and over rock outcroppings, and at Playalinda Beach in Cape Canaveral, you took a long walk north from the regular beach. The beaches were not easy to get to; they were out of the way and you had to make an effort to get there. That's why I didn’t think this beach would last as a clothing-optional beach; it was too close to everything. I thought it would last about a year, probably closing after it got about 100 people.
The original idea was that the beachgoers would wear G-strings or thongs, while top-free was allowed. As the day went by, there were routine police drive-by patrols. No one hassled us. Some beach-goers doffed the bottoms, out of sight of those using the clothed section a quarter of a mile away.
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Crew from Channel 7 News interviews G-stringed beachgoers.
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One of the events was the most imaginative bikini contest for men and women. Shirley won in her category with a cotton ball-covered bikini. I brought my camera to document just another club event. I had no idea I was about to be part of a historic event in American naturism. I suggested a group photo of people in the water. Just before they emerged, two elderly ladies from the textile beach walked past, so the group of seven waited until they passed, and then emerged from the water, holding hands. That photo appeared in The Naturist Society's N (Nude & Natural), The Magazine of Naturist Living. Channel Seven News came out and interviewed Shirley and other open beach nudists who had no problem using their names or being seen on television. I counted 35 people at one time, but was told later that 75 people came and went during the day. We stayed in a small cluster and the day ended quietly.
As the year went by, there were trips to Haulover Beach once every three months on weekends only. The turnouts were still small, with beachgoers staying in a cluster. Eventually, Wednesdays were added, and then people showed up on their own during the rest of the week in even smaller groups. (I was there one day and counted seven people.)
I went on to become an SFFB Board member and the club historian. I have photographed many club events over the years and find it ironic that I started the same month as Haulover Beach. I met and interviewed original club members who told me how the club got started in 1980. I used to regret that I wasn't able to see South Florida Free Beaches get created or join them on their original beach in Virginia Key before it closed. Then, I smile at the fact that I got to see Haulover Beach happen.
When I look around and see all those people using the beach, I sometimes think about the time when the beach was almost empty. How neat it is to know I was there on Day One.
Richard Mason remembers what came next
Shirley's goal was to have a beach with easy access for the naturists, equal to any beach that a clothing-optional visitor would enjoy. "Naturists are citizens and equal to other citizens," she stated. Starting the next February in 1992, some attendees of the Mid-Winter Naturist Festival would carpool the two-hour drive from Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort to Haulover Beach, increasing the population substantially.
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Crew from Channel 7 News interviews Shirley Mason.
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During the first year, the number of beach visitors grew. South Florida Free Beach members realized that they would have to enforce park rules and naturist beach etiquette as people new to the nude beach culture started to visit. Visitors were told, "No glass bottles" and "Keep out of the dunes," and copies of the rules were distributed on the beach. Haulover's naturist beach was Miami's avant-garde little secret; the authorities knew it was there and that it was legal, but didn’t officially acknowledge it.
As the number of beachgoers went into the thousands, the Parks Department added trash cans. Then, SFFB successfully lobbied for lifeguards and the building of the North Parking Lot as well as the opening of the tunnel and installation of electric lights in the tunnel. We also lobbied for new restroom buildings in a new Master Plan. South Florida Free Beaches then created the B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute, its adjunct 501(c)(3) non-profit, charitable and educational corporation to deal more effectively with Miami-Dade County government. B.E.A.C.H.E.S. raised the money to build the showers on the beach near Lifeguard Tower 15, three large chickees (thatch-roofed, open-sided shelters), and the smaller, umbrella-style chickees.
The existence of Haulover's naturist beach began to appear in print, travel brochures, and local news. Finally, the authorities could openly admit that the clothing-optional beach existed. Today, 1.5 million people visit the beach annually. Haulover, as a facility, is one of the largest in annual attendance in South Florida, drawing more people than the Dolphins and the Marlins sports teams combined.
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Sunsport Gardens Naturist Resort field trip to Haulover in January 1992
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The development of Haulover's naturist beach was the second golden age of South Florida Free Beaches and continues as the dream of a clothing-optional beach in Miami is realized. SFFB mentors the beach by communicating with government officials and patrolling the beach through the Beach Ambassador Program / Crime Watch. (See related article above.) For the past 25 years, South Florida Free Beaches has maintained a paid lobbyist in Tallahassee, Florida's capital, to represent the interests of naturists throughout the state.
For information on becoming a member or supporting South Florida Free Beaches, talk to one of our Beach Ambassadors, identifiable by their aqua hat and ID badge, visit the information table when it is set up on Haulover Beach in the North Chickee near Lifeguard Tower 15, or see our website at sffb.com.
On Friday and Saturday, July 8 and 9, 2016, SFFB and B.E.A.C.H.E.S. celebrate the 25th Anniversary of America’s most successful clothing-optional beach. Come on out and enjoy the party! (See related article above for details.)
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