Naked City

The state bird of Tennessee might be the mosquito, but it seems in Vermont, it's the jaybird.

Most of Vermont allows public nudity, but in Brattleboro, Vermont, the Selectboard had to outlaw public nudity last December.

It seems the town experienced a rash of nakedness starting in August 2006: nude bicycling, nude hula-hooping, and nude Dunkin' Donuts runs.

From the Wall Street Journal:

"Not everyone in Brattleboro approved of what they were seeing. "It's not appropriate behavior to run around nude in the business district," said Theresa Toney, a local resident who complained to the town about the hula-hooping.

Michael Gauthier, 43, recalls heading home from work one day that summer when he saw a man on a bicycle wearing what he presumed was a "neutral colored body suit." In fact, it was his birthday suit."

I don't want to seem like a prude, but I find the idea of nude hula-hooping very disturbing. But it's nothing compared to this mental image:

"One Friday last July, an elderly man participated in Brattleboro's monthly downtown Gallery Walk tour wearing nothing but a fanny pack and a head band. That weekend the same man, who told people he was visiting from Arizona, showed up at Sam's Outdoor Outfitters on Main Street. The staff asked him to put on some clothes, which he did, before helping himself to some popcorn from the store's free-popcorn machine."

I get the fanny pack — if you're walking around town with no clothes on, you still need somewhere to put your wallet — but the head band? That escapes me.