Have you ever been to a nudist resort? Those hoping to be amongst unclothed young things might be a little overwhelmed by the sight of wrinkled flesh. Apparently, America's nudist community is alarmed that its membership is graying and is now desperately trying to attract younger participants into its clothes-free lifestyle.
The Wall Street Journal takes a hard hitting look at the state of nude camping unions, and finds that younger people favor making a trip or two to a nude beach once in a while rather than embracing the full nude lifestyle. Miami's Haulover Beach is specifically name checked, though, honestly, we visited once to tick it off our "Things We Should Do To Have a Good Story to Tell" list, and were surprised that even there the age skewed older. Apparently the resorts skew even older.
"The whole lifestyle will just disappear unless we attract a younger crowd," Nicky Hoffman, head of a large American nudist group, told the paper. "The problem is, most of these resorts aren't geared to young people. They've become like retirement homes; they've sort of calcified."
Even naked, old people get cranky and say they don't care for young nudes' crazy body piercings and late-night habits.
Though, one new nudist group right here in Florida hopes to attract younger visits.
Vita Nuda organizes most of the young people who attend Nudepalooza each fall at the Cypress Cove Nudist Resort and Spa in Kissimmee, Fla., said resort owner Ted Hadley.Though things aren't off to a great start. That Spring Break Bash, held at a resort on the edge of the Everglades, only attracted 55 people, and the group's Facebook page keeps getting shut down because it's tricky to run a group with both "young" and "nude" in the title.
"We've been looking for years to reach out to that demographic and it's been a lot of brick walls," Mr. Hadley said. "It took a group of young nudists to do it on their own."
Robbe White, 27 years old, attended a winter festival at Sunsport Gardens in 2009 and was one of a handful of people younger than 35.
"I thought, 'This is ridiculous,'" he said. "I wanted to bring people my own age in to see what it was about."
He founded the Florida Young Naturists, opened a Facebook account and organized the first Spring Break Bash at Sunsport Gardens for people under 30.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
