February 2019

• Editor's Message — New Hamp-
shire Supreme Court delivers
setback to top-free equaity
• Free beach news roundup
• Nude bowling returns to Treasure
Coast on February 17, 2019
• 2019 Mid-Winter Naturist Festival
• SFFB March Board meeting
• Portland, OR clothing-optional
health spa faces possible closure

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Join South Florida Free Beaches

Beach Education Advocates for
Culture, Health, Environment
& Safety (B.E.A.C.H.E.S.)

501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and charitable adjunct to SFFB

Find a nude beach group to join!

Grand Lido™ Negril
Au Naturel All-Suite Resort
Negril, Jamaica
An upscale and elegant naturist resort
Represented by Fox Travel American Express

The Landon
(formerly, daddy O hotel miami)
Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Textile, but close to Haulover Beach

Lake Como Family Nudist Resort
Lutz, FL
The place to be ... naturally!

Sunsport Gardens
Family Naturist Resort
Loxahatchee Groves, FL
Clothes-free recreation in a
natural, tropical paradise!

The Naturist Society Foundation
Body acceptance is the idea.
Nude recreation is the way.

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Learn all about Haulover Beach! Click on above image to download this informative, 20-page booklet.

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Bringing Together the Largest Nudist Community in the World
nusasun.com
Pick up a free copy at a newspaper dispenser box on Haulover Beach.

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Gay Naturists International, Inc.
Life is Great; Live it Nude! ©

Find a men's naturist club or naked yoga group to join!

Read GNI BuffBuzz, GNI's official blog.

Register to attend GNI's first Naked Beach Australia retreat for men, February 21-28, 2019.

Register to attend GNI's annual nude Gathering for men, August 16-25, 2019 (shorter options available).

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Nudist Florida, an online magazine by AANR-Florida (Florida region of American Association for Nude Recreation), helps you find places to enjoy nude recreation.

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Looking for additional naturist places in Florida?

Click on above image to search for naturist clubs, resorts, yoga classes, and other businesses statewide. See alphabetical and geographical listings and an interactive map. Also includes a list of beaches.

by Seth Paronick

Free beach news roundup

Florida

Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN) is actively recruiting Beach Ambassadors for Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, FL, and is holding Beach Ambassador training there on Saturday, March 30, 2019, 2-4 p.m. The next day, Sunday, March 31, 2019, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., TCN hosts Blind Creek Beach Spring Cleaning. For additional information or to volunteer, send e-mail or call (772) 800-5841.

Reminder: Treasure Coast Naturists holds its next nude bowling and billiards night in a location on Florida's Treasure Coast on Sunday, February 17, 2019. A minimum of 40 attendees is required to reserve the venue. Click or tap on the above link for more info. To RSVP and to obtain the address, contact TCN immediately at blindcreekbeach@yahoo.com or 1 (817) 542-3152.

Tampa Area Naturists (TAN) continues to collect signatures on its petition in favor of a family-friendly, European-style, clothing-optional beach in the Tampa Bay Area. The goal is 10,000 signatures and, at press time, the total was more than 9,800 — almost there! If you haven't already done so, please sign the petition to support this effort. If you can, also make a contribution to the associated fundraiser.

Sign petitions for clothing-optional beaches in Florida: • Tampa Bay Area • Johnson Beach (near Pensacola)

TAN has also recently updated its website to accept new or renewed memberships on line. Annual dues are just $20 per household. (Re)join TAN now, and give your friends the link, joinit.org/o/tampaareanaturists!

A new effort has launched to obtain recognition of clothing-optional status for Johnson Beach on Perdido Key in Gulf Islands National Seashore, southwest of Pensacola, FL. You can help — sign the petition.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Wreck Beach Preservation Society, a B.E.A.C.H.E.S. chapter group that founded and mentors clothing-optional Wreck Beach in Vancouver, BC, Canada, reports that efforts are under way to obtain clothing-optional status for Third Beach in iconic Stanley Park, located between Vancouver's Outer and Inner Harbors. You can help — sign the petition.

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

31st Annual Mid-Winter Naturist Festival
Thursday – Tuesday, February 14-19, 2019
Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort
14125 North Rd, Loxahatchee Groves, FL
(14 miles west of West Palm Beach)

Reminder: Join other naturist women and men and their families from Florida and the rest of North America for the continent's first regional naturist gathering in 2019. Come for any or all of the days — it's up to you!

This nude gathering features around 235 scheduled activities, including a broad array of seminars, workshops, sports, meditation, yoga, music and dance (with nightly drum circle around a huge bonfire), and social activities. See the Festival schedule for an idea of what to expect. (Place your cursor over the document to open page controls.) There are also a couple of off-site events, which are excursions to Haulover Beach in Miami and Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, FL.

Mid-Winter Naturist Festival Art Exhibit: This naturist-themed art exhibit will be on display at the Festival for the duration of the event. It spans multiple artistic media.

Click or tap above to view photos from the 2018 Festival.

Click or tap above to download a poster for your bulletin board.

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, South Florida Free Beaches, and Treasure Coast Naturists. Get pricing and/or register.

For any questions about the Festival or the resort, contact Sunsport Gardens at frontdesk
@sunsportgardens.com or 1 (561) 793-0423. If you attend the Festival, be sure to visit the South Florida Free Beaches / B.E.A.C.H.E.S. booth in the vendor / exhibitor area.

Click or tap above for a video tour (13:41) of Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort.

Mid-Winter Naturist Festival Art Exhibit: This naturist-themed exhibit spans multiple artistic media and will be on display for the duration of the Festival. (The deadline to submit art is now past.) Click or tap above for details.

Meanwhile, try Sunsport Gardens' naked drum circle, first Friday of every month from 9 p.m. to midnight. Entry is from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. with a ground fee of $5; visitors must depart by 2 a.m. Includes access to amenities such as the café, showers, pool, spa, sauna, volleyball and tennis courts, nature trail, etc. You must present your government-issued photo ID for admission. Get directions.

The next two are on March 1 and April 5, 2019, respectively.

SFFB Board meeting on Haulover Beach, March 9

The Board of Directors of South Florida Free Beaches usually meets on the second Saturday of every month at 10:30 a.m. (an earlier time than last year's meetings) 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 the second Saturday pattern is noted with an asterisk.

The meetings are 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 bad weather, when the meeting may take place indoors.

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

Portland, OR clothing-optional spa faces closure

[Adapted from the February 7, 2019 issue of Northwest Nude News, published by AANR-Northwest, Northwest Region of American Association for Nude Recreation.]

Willamette Week, an alternative newspaper in Portland, OR, reported on January 23 that The Everett House Community Healing Center, previously known as Common Ground, is in danger of being forced to close. The Everett House shares some common goals with naturism — to promote body acceptance and a healthy style of living — and, as such, can be a point of entry for newbies to give naturism a try.

Since 1982, the Center has featured clothing-optional hot tubs, saunas, a steam room, flotation tanks, and licensed massage therapists. A few neighbors who don't like even concealed nudity in their midst, however, are demanding that the City of Portland revoke the Center's conditional use permit, which requires 30 parking spaces. These spaces, which the Center had leased from a nearby business, have been lost to make way for construction of new housing.

The Center's employees are upbeat about its chances to remain open, but supporters are being urged not only to patronize it and to encourage others to do the same, but also to sign the petition for the City to waive the parking requirement so that the Center can continue to operate.