Six days of fun, growth, and community in the nude

29th Annual Mid-Winter Naturist Festival
Thursday – Tuesday, February 16-21, 2017
Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort
14125 North Rd, Loxahatchee Groves, FL
(14 miles west of West Palm Beach)

Reminder: Join other naturist men and women and their families from Florida and the rest of North America for the continent's first regional naturist gathering in 2017. Come for any or all of the days — it's up to you!

This nude gathering features nearly 300 scheduled activities, including a broad array of seminars, workshops, sports, music and dance (including nightly drum circle around a huge bonfire), and social activities. There are also several off-site events, which include canuding on the jungly Loxahatchee River and excursions to Haulover Beach in Miami and Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, FL.

The Mid-Winter Naturist Festival is one of a series of Naturist Society-sanctioned nude events each year. Diversity is valued, and all are welcome. Pre-registration is encouraged for planning purposes, but not required. (It makes check-in quick and easy.) Proceeds of the Festival benefit The Naturist Society and South Florida Free Beaches. Get details and/or register.

Be sure to visit the SFFB / B.E.A.C.H.E.S. booth in the vendor area. Volunteers are needed to help staff the booth each day of the Festival. If you can spare some time to cover one or more shifts, please contact Richard Mason.

Click above for a video tour of Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort with Morley and Anne.

Help get the word out! The Festival has a listing on Facebook. Click on Going or Interested if you will or may attend, and use the Share button to invite your friends, post the event on your timeline and in other naturist groups you belong to, and send it in a message.

Meanwhile, try Sunsport Gardens' nude drumming circle, every Friday from 9 p.m. to midnight. (The first Friday of every month is a little more elaborate.) Free entry starts at 5 p.m.; visitors must depart by 2 a.m. Includes use of amenities such as the café, showers, pool, spa, and sauna. You must present your government-issued photo ID for admission. Get directions.

Treasure Coast Naturists / Blind Creek Beach update

Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN), mentors of Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, FL, held their first Beach Ambassador training on January 28 and 29. The training was presented in Fort Pierce by South Florida Free Beaches and B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute. (See related article.) Trainees included nearly all of TCN's Board of Directors plus several other volunteers from Blind Creek and Haulover Beaches. There was also a presentation by Tampa Area Naturists (TAN) on the recently renewed effort to obtain a clothing-optional beach in the Tampa Bay area.

TCN had been recruiting Beach Ambassadors for several months prior to the training, and this was the formal launch of their program. At the conclusion of training, they started to put together a duty schedule. Additional Beach Ambassadors are sought, and you can find out more and volunteer via TCN's Beach Ambassador web page.

TCN's effort to grow continues with a membership drive and after-beach party on Saturday, February 4, 6:00 – 11:30 p.m. at a private home in Jensen Beach, FL. It is open to TCN members only. Join TCN via its membership web page.

TCN is presenting an update about Blind Creek Beach at the Mid-Winter Naturist Festival. (See related article for details.)

As part of its fundraising (to help pay for portable toilets at Blind Creek Beach and other club expenses), TCN is introducing the beautiful vintage beach posters, printed on metal or plastic, shown below. (The images here are censored slightly for display on Facebook; the actual posters show full nudity.) They will soon be available at the TCN information booth on Blind Creek Beach, which usually operates on weekends. For additional info about these and other items, visit TCN's merchandise web page.

SFFB Board meeting

The Board of Directors of South Florida Free Beaches meets on the second Saturday of every month at 2:00 p.m. under the North Chickee (thatch-roofed shade structure) near Lifeguard Tower 15 on Haulover Beach unless another date and time or location is announced. See below for the long-term schedule. Any planned exception to this pattern is noted with an asterisk.

The meeting is open to SFFB sponsors / members, supporters, and invited guests. Prior to setting out, check the upper left-hand corner of SFFB's home page at sffb.com (under Today's Beach Reports) for any change in date, time, or location due to unavailability of Board members or in case of inclement weather, when the meeting may take place indoors.

Don't miss an SFFB Board meeting — add the schedule to your calendar now!

B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute annual meeting

Beach Education Advocates for Culture, Health, Environment & Safety (B.E.A.C.H.E.S.) Foundation Institute is the 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and charitable adjunct to SFFB. B.E.A.C.H.E.S.' Board of Governors is holding its annual meeting at the Mid-Winter Naturist Festival (see related article for location and other details) on Saturday, February 18, 2017, 9-11 a.m.

Of related interest that day at the Festival are the Blind Creek Beach Update at 11 a.m. and Florida Naturist Groups: Sharing Information, Developing Strategies, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. The latter brings together leaders and other key representatives of most of the major naturist advocacy organizations from around Florida. The meeting venues are listed in the final schedule that is provided upon check-in at the Festival. All Festival attendees are welcome to sit in on these sessions.

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.

Beach Ambassador training for the remainder of 2017 is scheduled for Haulover Beach in Miami on Saturday, April 8, July 8, and October 14. If you have any questions or wish to sign up for a training session, contact Ken.