Naked Running Pumpkins :: Local News and Newspapers

: Naked Running Pumpkins

November 1, 2008 by Brad
Filed under: WTF?

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Nudity is almost as big of a taboo in the United States as incest. This is an unfortunate situation. I find myself wondering how as a people we can call ourselves enlightened when the simplest of things is hush hush and dirty. I know it tied to the puritanical ways of our ancestors who came to this country to hide from crazy European sex, but it is we give up our prudish ways. it is time we stop thinking of nudity, the very form the God of Christians let infants be born with, as a taboo. It isn’t like I am advocating that we be allowed to make love to more than one woman at a time or stop having to learn her name. Nudity is what it is, our body, and if we truly believe that we own it we shouldn’t be afraid to go around in it, clothed or unclothed.

Hundreds of nude runners take to streets : County News : Boulder Daily Camera

Hundreds of nude runners take to streets
10th year of Naked Pumpkin Run gets rowdy; police issue tickets

By Laura Snider (Contact)
Friday, October 31, 2008
An unidentified man runs along Pearl Street at the start of the 10th annual Naked Pumpkin Run in Boulder on Friday night.

An unidentified man runs along Pearl Street at the start of the 10th annual Naked Pumpkin Run in Boulder on Friday night.
Photo Gallery
10th Annual Naked Pumpkin Run

Andrea DuBay, front left, Liz Kassab, second from front right, and Teresa Ayandele, front right, pose for a photo with a naked man on the corner of Pearl and Eleventh Streets during the 10th annual Naked Pumpkin Run in Boulder on Friday night.

The 10th annual Naked Pumpkin Run in Boulder turned rowdy, as police began ticketing some participants for indecent exposure late Friday night and hundreds of other costumed revelers started chanting “Let them go!” and telling officers to “find real criminals.”

A man in a red cape and sword climbed the pinnacle in front of the Boulder County Courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall, leading the chant with his sword.

About a dozen people were ticketed shortly after the crowd started its Halloween run at 10:45 p.m.

The group of runners, who annually shed their clothes and streak Pearl Street wearing only pumpkins over their heads, was huge this year — and that was part of the concern for police, who have rarely ticketed runners in other years.

“We wanted to do something before (the event) got out of hand,” said Police Chief Mark Beckner. “This was a good opportunity to enforce the law.”

In past years, police haven’t had the staffing levels to ticket the runners, Beckner said, but this year the Halloween run fell on a Friday when a lot of officers were scheduled to work. Beckner likened streaking to speeding — police can’t catch them all, but they do what they can.

This year’s streakers were a diverse group — young and old, who were costumed as vixens and nuns, ghosts and witches earlier in the night. Veteran runners were handing out a few useful tips to the newbies in the backyard of a house on Grove Street before the run.

The inside of a freshly gutted pumpkin is slimy, and the squash helmet is bound to slide around on a runner’s hair.

“Handles are the most important thing in pumpkin running,” said a second-year runner who preferred not to identify himself.

You also need visibility, said the man, who had carved his jack-o-lantern upside-down so he could peek out of the wide mouth as he ran.

Others aren’t so modest — with their bodies or their names.

“This is my second time; it’s so liberating,” said Jill Fountain. “It’s a whole bunch of people taking off their clothes. It’s like making fun of being nude.”

Shortly after 10 p.m., a Norseman (who appeared to be one of the leaders) started to rally the troops. You must have a trash bag for your clothes if you run, he told the crowd. And most important, don’t throw away your pumpkin — this is Boulder, after all.

“We are composting the pumpkins,” he yelled. “Await further instructions after the run.”

Though police haven’t typically busted up the naked fun run, city officials did warn the public earlier this week that tickets weren’t out of the question.