Officials with Calgary Nude Recreation say the group has met the criteria outlined by the City of Calgary for hosting their private nude events and the next naked swim has been scheduled for February 11 at an undisclosed location.
The group announced the changes in a statement posted on Meetup.
As per their agreement with the City, Calgary Nude Recreation says it will promote its events as family-friendly and all minors in attendance must be under the direct supervision of a parent. The guardians must present their dependent's birth certificate when they enter the event or they will be refused entry.
In addition to the admission fee for each event, the organization will require every adult in attendance to purchase an annual membership for $10 prior to the event and to present identification that matches the name on their membership when they check-in.
"We have complied with every request the city has made," said an organizer who referred to himself as Naked Jeff. "Our events will be run on par with every other nude group in North America, including the 2 groups in Edmonton that have been having events for decades. It is notable that nobody has ever heard of the nude swims in Edmonton before because nude swims are not a problem in North America."
"People that attend nude swims agree that everyone is safer at nude swims because of the tight-nit [sic] community that looks out for each other. We are happy we were able to reach and agreement and go ahead with our next event. We look forward to having a public access nude beach near Calgary at some point in the future."
The group had scheduled a ‘Naked Water Slides and Wave Pool’ event at the City of Calgary’s Southland Leisure Centre for January 14, 2018 but the event, which was to be held outside the facility’s regular hours of operation, was cancelled by the City following incidents that carried ‘the potential to impact safety of participants, public and staff using the facility entirely’.
City of Calgary officials stated the January cancellation was not in response to public backlash. An online petition that had called for the ‘event to be put to rest’ received nearly 24,000 signatures. A counter-petition to the petition garnered more than 8,100 signatures.
The Calgary Police Service confirmed it was investigating reports of an undisclosed threat made against Southland Leisure Centre on January 8, 2018.
In its statement, Calgary Nude Recreation says the February 11 swim will be held at a different location and at a slightly different time than the cancelled event and the specific details will be shared with members of the group.
The City of Calgary would not provide comment on Calgary Nude Recreation's events. In a statement to CTV Calgary, City officials said "To respect the privacy of citizens, we do not release the details of private bookings."
