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Despite the cold, rainy weather, the first in many weeks, more than forty people gathered today at Hanlan's Point beach to celebrate the restoration of its clothing-optional status.
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MICHAEL STUPARYK TORONTO STAR |
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ROYALTY BUFF:
Geoffrey Pimblett, dressed as Queen Victoria, and Barry
Birnberg help officially open Toronto's first nude beach.
This photo is borrowed; I am seeking
permission from the photographer to use it. In the meantime, I
encourage you to buy paper copies for the large full-colour
version.
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Included in the crowd were members of TNT!MEN, the Federation of Canadian Naturists, Hanlan's Beach Naturists, and the University of Toronto Naturists. Local politicians Jack Layton and Olivia Chow, who had both supported the restoration and who promised to come to the beach once the weather improved, were both on hand, and they had fun chatting with the small crowd of reporters after the ceremony.
On my way to the ceremony, my bike broke down and could I get my chain working again? No, of course not. Fortunately, I didn't have anything important to do today; Peter Simm had very capably taken care of all the details. (Except the weather, that is. It seems there are limits to his powers after all...) I got there about 10 minutes after the festivities had started, so I missed the procession of Her Imperial Majesty Queen Victoria and the trumpet fanfare, and the first few speeches. I hear it was quite delightful, though.
I did arrive in time to hear Prof. Paul Rapoport of the FCN remind everyone that Peter Simm had indeed discovered that Hanlan's Point had previously been clothing-optional from 1894 until 1930. He went on to say that on May 11th, Peter told Paul that by noon the next day, May 12th, City Council would vote in favour of the nude beach. Paul said "No way!" And so they decided to bet on it, for the princely sum of ten cents.
Sure enough, the next day, at 12:08 pm, Paul's phone rang, and it was Peter saying, "You owe me ten cents." As his annecdote ended, Paul handed Peter a small box containing a dime from the year 1894. He also gave Peter a two CD set containing among other things music by Peter Warlock (1894-1930). A clever man, that Paul! And it was certainly a lovely gesture.
Soon the speeches ended, and Peter announced: "This ribbon cutting symbolizes the liberation of Hanlan's Point Beach from the tyranny of textiles!" With that, the ribbon with cut, and the onlookers cheered.
Despite the weather, no-one left. We all stood around chatting with each other and with the press. Two of our bravest souls, Richard and Marvin, posed for photographers in the incredibly cold water of Lake Ontario.
CityTV had a camera on-hand, and they did a nice piece that was broadcast this evening at 6 pm on CityPulse. (Transcript) I expect we'll see more in tomorrows papers.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, the beach is named for Ned Hanlan of Toronto, who in 1880 became Canada's first world sports champion, for sculling. There is a very hunky shirtless statue of him on the waterfront in the city. From the looks of it, and the photos I've seen, he'd have been a delightful addition to the crowd today.
25 May 1999 Check out today's Sun (front page and page 12), and the Toronto Star (front page of Greater Toronto section). They are online at the moment: