MAY NEWSLETTER

World Naked Gardening Day May 4 & International Permaculture Day on May 5!
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BLIND CREEK'S CLOTHING OPTIONAL BEACH THREATENED BY STATE ACTIONS IN TALLAHASSEE. Please Donate to Save Hutchinson Island's Blind Creek Beach.
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Make your donations to the TCN Legal Defense Fund by check or via PayPal at paypal.me/tcnaturists. Make your check payable to: Treasure Coast Naturists, Inc. Please indicate that your donation is for the TCN Legal Defense Fund.

Mail to:Treasure Coast Naturists
PO Box 882281
Port Saint Lucie, FL 34988
More Details Below
For the fourth consecutive year a Sunsport will be gathering to learn, grow, and laugh in celebration of the 14th annual World Naked Gardening Day on Saturday, May 4th, and International Permaculture Day on May 5th!
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From our talented ranks, our intention is to once again organize another unforgettable event with hands-on activities around useful aspects of natural gardening and permaculture. Join us for two days clothed with the sky, barefoot in the dirt, and surrounded by nature!
This year we will also initiate the community garden.
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Friday evening, May 3rd, is Sunsport's monthly Community Drum Circle.

The Bloodmobile will be at Sunsport on Sunday afternoon, May 5th, where you can donate the gift of life.
The always popular Island Brothers Band will play poolside on Sunday afternoon, May 26th, during Memorial Day long weekend. People will be dancing in and around the pool to great reggae music.
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The Full Bloom Music Medley Weekend for Young Adults in April was a great success with a variety of wonderful music acts and had a large attendance. Thanks to Brandon Steinbrecher and The Tribe for organizing the event.
The next weekend for young adults will be the second full weekend in August.

Naturally Nude Cafe.......whats cookin.....

Healthy Home Grown Veggies!

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Due to changes in Florida Law Sunsport can now organically grow fresh vegetables to serve in the restaurant!

Stay tuned......
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We have received positive mention in a listing of suggested trips in The Times of Apalachicola, Florida.
We were the only naturist resort listed. The description of Sunsport:

"Sunsport Gardens Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee is for the free-spirited among us! Seriously, clothing is nothing but an inconvenience at this Florida camping spot and nudist’s paradise."


Another good write-up: Neil Hicks and his wife from Nova Scotia recently visited Sunsport. Neil has written a very positive article about their visit which will soon appear in Going Natural Magazine, published by the Canadian naturist organizations, FCN/FQN.

As usual, reduced special summer rates for ground fees and camping start in May. Ground fees will be reduced to $25 per day, $22 per day for people affiliated with the Naturist Society or the American Association For Nude Recreation. The ground fee is still $6 per day for people aged 18-30 with a student ID or membership in TNSF.
This is also the month when people can opt for year round camping rates which are exactly half way between the summer and winter rates.
Now is the time to enroll your children or grandchildren in Sunsport's Naturist Family Youth Camp July 13-21. Children aged 4-17 and their families will experience a fun week of growth and community emphasizing interpersonal relations skills, learning, and creativity in a natural environment. As usual we will have an ocean beach day, a variety show, crafts, nature exploration, boating, non-competitive sports, and lots of pool time, with individual attention for each camper.
Swann will once again be camp director. Most of the favorite counselors will be returning. Enrollment forms are on Sunsport's website. If your child is attending, please call me at 561-791-1361 or email me at [email protected]. I need to know the names and ages of campers and any activities adult family members might like to lead.
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Don't Forget
World Naked Gardening and Permaculture Weekend on May 4th and 5th.

Permaculture SunSport News

Sunday May 5 is International Permaculture Day!
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Come help us build the Community & Market Garden

and talk Permaculture.

And we will have some cutting and seeds to share.
Check out our FaceBook page for more details and meetings of the SunSport Permaculture Group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/permaculture.sunsport/
Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN), the volunteer group that mentors clothing-optional Blind Creek Beach on Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce, FL, has issued the following alert about a pressing threat to the clothing-optional status of that beach:
BLIND CREEK'S CLOTHING OPTIONAL BEACH THREATENED BY STATE ACTIONS IN TALLAHASSEE. Please Donate to Save Hutchinson Island's Blind Creek Beach.
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Rumors have been circulating that the clothing optional section of Blind Creek Beach is in trouble. This St. Lucie County haven for naturists has openly thrived since 2014. Sheriff deputies tolerantly patrol and Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN) board members regularly consult with County Commissioners and staff. So what is really happening and why is the nude beach imperiled? The following will summarize conditions that are compelling a political fight in Florida's State capital. Your help in the form of legal defense donations is needed to fund this battle.

The first unnoticed salvo occurred as far back as three years ago when the State of Florida, through its Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), sent a complaint to St. Lucie County. DEP objected to St. Lucie County government tolerating a nude beach on what it sees as State-owned land.

So what is the root cause of the State's challenge to Blind Creek Beach's nude use? Some quick background history will help readers better understand. About 15 years ago, St. Lucie County established Blind Creek Beach County Park as an isolated Hutchinson Island preserve located immediately north of the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant. Before the county park's officially startup, this same section of isolated shoreline was host to a long tradition of nude sunbathing and swimming. Begun as far back as the 1970s, the free beach attracted naturists from around North America. Skinny dippers encountered a pristine piece of coastline that was relatively free of arrests or harassment.

In 2014, frank discussions between local naturist advocates, the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, and the St. Lucie County Attorney led to the recognition that this isolated stretch of beach and its tradition of family-oriented skinny dipping - did not run afoul of the state's anti-nudity statute (SS - 800.03). As long as lewd behavior did not occur, County deputies would quietly patrol the beach just like any other. And so a grand social experiment began where local government tolerated and even cooperated with a naturist not-for-profit, the Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN), in managing Blind Creek Beach. TCN patrols the shore, protects the sensitive dunes from human intrusion, funds and provides portable bathrooms to beach-goers, manages the parking lot, organizes beach clean-ups and town hall meetings, and operates a website (treasurecoastnaturists.org) that educates the uninitiated about the freer norms occurring at this county park.

The economic rewards from Blind Creek Beach are impressive. The number of tourists flocking to St. Lucie County has significantly increased. Many are attracted to the Blind Creek Beach experiment, so much so that it is now the most visited beach in the county. A range of 500-1000 naturists show up on weekends. Hotel occupancy is up. Restaurants have been filled by a new niche of family tourists. Behind the scenes both the business community and county government administrators have witnessed the unexpected. Home to one of only four successfully established nude beaches in the State, St. Lucie County has found itself in an economic sweet spot.

Since its inception in 2014, Blind Creek Beach has been successfully branded worldwide as a tropical, isolated, and unspoiled paradise for naturists. Tourists now come from Europe, the Caribbean, and South America to experience it for themselves, fill up nearby hotel rooms, and enjoy the many local restaurants. It's understandably difficult for St. Lucie County to ignore this abundant new source of tourist dollars.
The Threat to Blind Creek Beach: Meanwhile in Tallahassee, DEP has repeatedly voiced objections to nude use on their land. DEP claims that since over 95 percent of Blind Creek Beach County Park's leased tracts are actually owned by DEP (and the State of Florida), the department insists that it has standing to object. As part of its purpose, DEP plays a primary role in administering and protecting the state's wild lands. What DEP overlooks is that it already has TCN as a committed environmental partner in helping to manage the county park. For the past three years, DEP has repeatedly written threatening letters to St. Lucie County's government administrators. They continue to demand that the naturist use be shutdown or moved away from Blind Creek Beach. The response from St. Lucie County has been largely silent. With the backing of business leaders and others, the county has chosen to let the grand experiment continue and thrive.

After repeated rumors of pending trouble, in March 2019 TCN wrote a letter to a long-time Tallahassee naturist advocate and lobbyist. TCN asked his firm to investigate several key questions. Is Blind Creek Beach's naturist status actually in jeopardy? If true, how and why is it threatened? Last, who is at the heart of the objection? Subsequent research in Tallahassee uncovered a real threat. After careful research, the lobbyist discovered that yes, the State of Florida (through DEP) was getting ready to take immediate additional actions to compel St. Lucie County to close down all nude use of Blind Creek Beach. Since learning of this, TCN has committed to uncovering the answers and prevail in this dispute. The naturists refuse to back down or leave this beach. To win, TCN has officially hired the Florida lobbying firm of Maury Management Group. This company has a long successful record of representing both South Florida Free Beaches / Florida Naturist Association (SFFB/FNA) since 1994 and the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) in Tallahassee. Their normal purview is to watchdog and identify potentially harmful bills or legislation. But with TCN's recent hiring of Maury Management, a far more intensive, assertive, and expensive work plan has been set in motion.


According to principal Ramon Maury, there are two steps that must be undertaken. Timing is important too. As an added benefit, the concentrated effort to save Blind Creek Beach could also lead to reopening former clothing-optional beaches that Floridians lost in the 1980's. (This might include MacArthur Beach -formerly called Air Force Beach - in Palm Beach County.) Step I encompasses placing a hold on DEP's actions to quickly shut down Blind Creek Beach. Maury Management Group has opened up a dialog with each of the stakeholders in Tallahassee and is working to impose a temporary hold on all pending actions that might stop naturism at Blind Creek Beach. Step II involves opening a conversation with the key players while the Florida legislature is still in session. Possible outcomes that appear to be within reach include rewriting state park rules and/or regulations that currently discourage the establishment of sanctioned nude beaches in Florida. Convincing arguments already underway include the economic perspective. Nude beaches are good for growing local economies, especially those that remain heavily dependent on tourist dollars and the service sector.

The good news is that Step I is underway and Step II has begun. But this fight is expensive. For it to be won, it will take more naturist donations.
What Can You Do? Donate so that you may continue to visit Blind Creek Beach as a naturist. Give so that we can also open up the opportunity for establishing more clothing-optional beaches around the State. At the moment other international and regional naturist organizations around the country have been contacted by TCN for help. The Treasure Coast Naturists, the Naturist Action Committee, the Naturist Education Foundation, The Naturist Society Foundation, B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute, and South Florida Free Beaches have all committed financial and in-kind resources to the fight. AANR, through its national and Florida region, has also been asked to join the battle.

Make your donations to the TCN Legal Defense Fund by check or via PayPal at paypal.me/tcnaturists. Make your check payable to: Treasure Coast Naturists, Inc. Please indicate that your donation is for the TCN Legal Defense Fund.

Mail to:Treasure Coast Naturists
PO Box 882281
Port Saint Lucie, FL 34988
Rate Sheet 2019
Rate Sheet 2019 010119
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