Heads up: 2009 naked pumpkin run
 

The naked pumpkin run is coming soon, and in a quick search, I was not able to come up with a lot of info on dates, places, times, etc. Lets use this thread to post info that we dig up, and then pics to follow. The most important thing to note is that these runs are spreading, and there may be one in your city this year! Do some digging, check twitter, and see if that is true, then get out your camera and go check it out! Portland is rumored to have one this year. Many other cities in the west may also, however small. And Seattle is still on board with one of the few daylight runs. Past pics from Seattle's runs have been spectacular, but Boulder, Colorado still has the biggest run.

Anyway, post any info here. Halloween officially is Oct 31st this year, but they may not run on that date.

thanks,

Klondike

I will check Beantown

I totally forgot about this event. Woohoo !! Can't wait for the pics to come through.

pennywiseguy2

again, I'm not running into any official sources that are up to date on this year's runs. The official NPR site does not list upcoming ride dates and locations that I can see. So........we need help! When, where are these runs? thanks in advance!

klondike

here is a small amount of info on this years NPR's, gleaned from yahoo groups:

Boulder's run may not happen because of last years police action. Stay tuned - if it does occur, the location may change from previous years.

Seattle's daylight run will be on Halloween in the Fremont district. Exact locations and times are not known, but noon to 2PM along Fremont street would be a good place to try.

KLondike

I'm from Colorado, and I know some of the people who regularly do the pumpkin run, and I would actually like to request that noone go to the Boulder Pumpkin run to take pictures of it. The reason the police shut it down last year was that it became a big enough spectacle to be a public nuisance. If people go gaga over the pumpkin run, it wont happen anymore. People in Boulder often don't mind people seeing them naked, but being arrested for indecent exposure because people make a big deal out of it really sucks.

I respect your opinion, as you do know some of the runners. However, with 400 running last year, it was a big deal even if no spectators had showed up at all. I mean, its a little unrealistic to place the blame on the spectators when its a foregone conclusion that 400 naked runners are going to attract a crowd. Portland's WNBR has so many riders now that the same thing may soon happen to it. But the police CAN step in and try to create order out of the chaos, rather than just try to shut down the chaos. This has happened with WNBR's in other locations. Had this run happened in Eugene, OR, for example, the police might have assisted with crowd control rather than arrest participants. So as a runner, who is your bigger enemy? Your point is well taken that photographers and other spectators can cause problems at these events, but if one does not cultivate support among the cops, no amount of spectator presence is going to matter. The cops will do what cops are trained to do among other things - make arrests. It is unfortunate what happened in Boulder last year and I don't know all the facts, but of the three parties involved, my guess is that the role of the spectators was of lesser significance than the other two. And finally - if you know before hand that you will have 400 running, do you really think you are going to be able to wish the crowds away? It just ain't going to happen, and the organizers should figure this into their planning just as they can figure that a pic or two of themselves may likely appear on the internet. Otherwise, please hold your run in a more secluded setting.....!

Klondike

here is the latest:

Seattle has formally announced its daylight run with time and location, but not its nightime run. Both will be held OCt 31st.

Portland apparently ran already on the 24th of Oct according to twitter. sheesh......!

Boulder is up in the air. I don't think they are going to advertize this one much if it happens at all, and the location may not be the mall.

stay tuned,

Klondike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZVwvJ0TBLU - 16 second video of the Portland run (although all the people in the video are walking). Quality is actually pretty good on this one.

Enjoy

Fango

I would like to see still photos of that last girl!!

Great, Fango - yeah, they're walking, but I don't mind - its a bit easier to take it all in.

Estimates of the number that ran/walked range from 30-50 which is pretty good for a pumpkin run. Once again, I missed a local event because I do not know how to find out about these things beforehand....

thanks!

Klondike

Just got back from Fremont and Seattle's Naked Pumpkin run the Daylight edition. Sorry to say the turn out was three men. No Women, no pics, and it was a brisk bright sunny day. Sorry guys...

hey, sorry to hear about that, but you know - I came within a hairs breath of heading up there last night from Portland. At the last minute I said to myself - "What if nobody shows up?". So I am relieved that I made the right choice, but still wish that the turnout had been better. Hope you didn't drive too far to witness this. The last couple of years produced some great pics, and I hope the women return next year.

cheers,

Klondike

It seems the heavy hand of the 'moral majority' and Police has even reached the ears of the BBC in London....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8336308.stm


I wonder how many REAL crimes will go un-noticed while 40 odd police look out for a flash of nudity....it is after dark for heavens sake!!!!

on twitter is brief reports of pumpkin runners being assaulted last night in Seattle. But there is absolutely no news anywhere else, and no full length stories that I could find. I am very curious to know if anything really happened because this is very serious and could impact naked activities in the future there and elsewhere. l
Lets hope its just a rumor...

Klondike

No Drive for me just a walk down the hill and over a bridge and I'm in Fremont. It was a let down for sure. There were several Photogs there. We all had our cameras out hoping/expecting to see some type of gathering. 12:00 noon came and the three runners gathered and it was pretty obvious it wasn't going to amount to much.

I did wonder if I had actually had a run in with the Famous Mr. Klondike himself. I didn't get out for the night run a previous engagement, Beer and the good feelings of Oregon over USC had me occupied. Well The Solstice Parade is only 8 months away!

You are fortunate to live in the area. Imagine coming out, seeing nothing of interest, and having a three hour drive home empty handed. I'm glad I stayed home. I'm still curious, though, about this buzz on Twitter that some of the night runners got assaulted. I've heard nothing else.....

cheers,

Klondike

Finally, a vid from Boulder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93Xr3SmcK8

Looks like it took place on Halloween night, in conjunction with a bunch of other crazy shit going down at a place called the Pearl Street Mall. Unfortunately, they only show the three runners (one chick) for the first 10 seconds of the video. :cool:

Enjoy

Fango

I really feel for you guys in the USA with its stupid prudish anti-nudity laws. Compare that to the UK, - nude people in central London on the plinth, the biggest WNBR... we've still a long way to go compared to to most of Europe, but its getting better. The US is in the dark ages when it comes to nudity.

OK, well let me chime in here for a minute. You see, I know this is Europeans talking about the US, and, well, you guys sort of have it half right. Let me explain. Colorado is not the West coast nor the East coast. Colorado is full of mostly conservative ranchers, cowboys, cops, etc, EXCEPT for a tiny minority that live in around Boulder and some other towns. But Boulder is, well, a college town and like Austin Tx, Madison Wi, Burlington Vt, etc, etc, urban, liberal attitudes thrive in relative isolation to the general population. But just for comparison sake, suppose some hippie nudity were to occur in the Australian outback, far from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. It might not sit too well with the locals, because they would probably go "oh look, smart ass city kids think they can come out here and flaunt their bodies and do whatever the hell they please in our little town". Anyway, so you are running into inbred cultural stereotypes and attitudes that precede the actual nudity. Translated - "You are different. I don't like you, so I don't like the fact that you are getting naked." Now you will notice that most Coloradans probably don't have too much of a problem with a little naked fun be it at a biker rally, local tavern, or whatever. But the pumpkin run is not COWBOY fun, its suburban, liberal HIPPIE fun, born and raised elsewhere. Now it turns out the mayor of Boulder supports the NPR, probably because he too was born and educated elsewhere, but the Boulder police department? Hah! Thats another matter! So, in essence what I'm saying is, in the case of Boulder, you are not so much running into American prudishness as you are running into ingrained cultural biases that blow over when you add a little nudity to the mix. Thats just my opinion, of course, but I'll bet there is some truth to it. Because I'll bet that some of those same guys that put on police uniforms there every day also go to topless taverns and biker ralleys on weekends. So its not the nakedness thats the problem - its the CULTURE practiced by the naked that is the issue!

Klondike

While I'm on my soapbox, I'd like to point out that I am somewhat apolitical (moderately liberal and yes, I do enjoy hippie nudity) but here is another story that kind of illustrates the cultural problems I talked about above. Years ago, some may recall, the Indian Guru Bhagwan Rashneesh settled in a little town in Eastern Oregon and invited all of his urban, hip followers to live with him. There was a lot of nudity on the Guru's compound. And the naked scorned the nearby ranchers and Oregonians that complained. It got pretty ugly, but what really irked me was the level of TOTAL disrespect that the Rashneeshes had for the locals they encountered. The locals were treated like flies to be swatted or laughed at. For a time, they bullied the entire county, threatened local officials, and the Bhagwan himself would not even lower himself to SPEAK to locals at all. It was totally beneath him. Now, I would never support that level of animosity coming from a group just looking for their little paradise and not wanting anyone else to get in their way. And I don't for a minute suggest that those in Boulder ever acted in the same manner as the Rashneeshees. But the point is to illustrate the cultural biases that separate us all, and how nudity can often act as a spark plug that ignites trouble and highlights racial, ethnic, and cultural differences and prejudices. In my own family background, there is a mix of country, urban, liberal, and conservative elements, so i can see both sides to the argument. And while I DON'T support the Boulder police for what they did last year (siding with the liberal there), I DID support the locals in their battle against the Rashneeshees (siding with the conservatives now) - locals who's only sin was that they happened to live in some distant Guru's vision of paradise.

Klondike

I know Colorado is not as overwhelmingly conservative as i painted it - Maybe I was thinking more about Wyoming. (the "tiny minority" statement (refering to liberals in Colorado) is not accurate...)

KLondike

It is interesting (to me anyway) to see how 'the man/woman in the street' reacts when confronted with 'non-sexual nudity. From my experiences in the UK, both in Southampton and Brighton for the WNBRs, I can say that 99% of reactions is favourable, to say the least.

Maybe one or two people (usually Christians, never very tolerant and forgiving, despite the good teachings of their founder:D) will call out 'you should be ashamed', but as the happenings they claim happened in the garden of Eden (not near Brighton or Southampton, as far as I know) were not the fault of those on the ride, shame is not much in evidence, just joy of existance and delight in owning a body capable of peddling a bike 9 miles, clothed or not!!!

Maybe a nude appearance of one or two people may cause a different reaction (maybe an anthrapologist can answer this) to 700 naked or partially clothed people, but I fail to see why it would enrage public feelings to the extent of violence.

The people I have encountered have on the whole been delighted by the spectacle, many shout 'I wish I had your courage to do that' and at least 20 or 30 over the past three years have done just that, stripped naked there and then to join the ride.

The Brits are not as liberal as the Europeans, but seem (mostly) to have a very healthy attitude to mass full frontal daylight nudity in crowded streets, for a worthy cause. The police are 100% behind the organisers, in fact in 2009, a policeman from the year before fulfilled a promise he made in 2008 and joined the ride!

+1

I think I spotted quite a big bush. :eek: :)

This video is from last year, but it was just posted on youtube this month. I can't check if this is a repost, because almost all of the related youtube and rapidshare links on OCC are down. And since all the old links are down, at the very least it's a worthwhile repost. It's well lit and good quality, by youtube standards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtqwbCW2aM4

and the save:

http://rapidshare.com/files/30269761...r__CO_2008.flv

and the caps:

From a link posted today in Free Sites by trebla: 10 '08 pictures, sampled from a gallery of 160+, reminding us what the authorities saw to it we'd be spared this year...

thanks as always, Crispus -

YOu know, someone needs to go into the business of manufacturing "pumpkin head" holders i.e. so that you can wear them on your head and they will stay in place without you having to use your hands to hold them. I figure if we're going to get serious about this tradition and spread it far and wide, pretty soon runners will demand better accomodations for their head. Something a little cleaner, lighter, more stable, less gooey......with a chin strap, vinyl interior.....

I'll work on it...

and BTW - kudus to the women who ran pumpkin-less......

Klondike

Here's something really cool and interesting. A student short film partly shot at the Boulder Pumpkin Run:

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2-U5XPWPw

Enjoy

Fango

I watched this closely because I wanted to see how much they integrated him in with the actual run. When he trips, falls and gets laughed at - that is filmed separately. But when he gets back up (and picks up a different pumpkin than the one he fell with), he seems to be among the actual pumpkin runners. So.....in otherwords, this film could not have been made after the fact with someone else's anonomous footage of the run combined with his story. It looks like the whole thing was premeditated, or in otherwords, the idea for making the film preceded the event.

Right? (and thats what makes it so cool, like "American Pie goes to Boulder")

great find, Fango - :)

KLondike

I hope someone saved it; it's gone from youtube.