Naked In Brattleboro

Now here's something you don't see everyday.  It is, apparently, legal to be naked in public in Vermont.

BRATTLEBORO -- Here on the banks of the Connecticut River, in the busiest parking area of a downtown peppered with bookstores and coffee shops, more is meeting the eye than some people want.

A politely rebellious collection of teenagers passing time in the Harmony Parking Lot this summer has taken to disrobing. Seemingly on a whim, they shed clothes and soak up the sun, nude.

What began as a lark or an ode to youthful exuberance has now turned into a municipal quandary, because public nudity is permissible in Brattleboro.

In the words of Town Manager Jerry Remillard, if you're naked in public, and you're minding your business, you're legal.

"We're quite a bit different than a lot of places," Remillard said.

No kidding.  Ah, liberal Vermont.  Where the maple syrup flows, the air is pristine, the skiing is divine, and teenagers with too much free time on their hands can be seen - really seen - on every street corner.

The nudity began in earnest this year, Brooks said, when one young woman decided she wanted to bare her chest in public, just like her male friends.

Since then, the no-clothes fashion has gained popularity and has expanded to include group bike rides, skateboarding, hula-hoop contests, and a grass-roots music event that the group dubbed the Brat Fest.

Sounds like a hoot.

8/25/06 1945: I thought the denizens of Wizbang might find this amusing on a Friday evening.

Comments

[Howard Ish/Prine]

"Oh my"

Might be decribed as my response to this story. I grew up & went to high-school near Brattleboro.

"Comman Sense" & "civility" will be showing their UGLY HEADS; no later than January...

[Giacomo]

As I tell my daughters - fortunately for me not yet teenagers - just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something.