2021.07.31 Journal Inquirer
Like any summer resort or campground, at Solair Recreation League, you can swim, hike, ride a bike, or sun on the beach next to a pond where you can paddleboard; you can play tennis, shuffleboard, pickle ball, or volleyball.
The only difference — at Solair, all that is done without clothes.
Solair is one of two nudist resorts in Connecticut, Sun Ridge in Sterling is the other.
Established in 1934, Solair started out as a gun club before transitioning into a nudist resort, Nancy Greenhouse, Solaire director, said.
The resort opens its gates on April 15 and runs through the end of October, but the place doesn’t officially kick off its season until Memorial Day weekend.
In most locations at the resort clothing is optional, but Greenhouse said there are two places where being nude is required, the pool and the pond.
Both locations are popular and on a hot summer day both locations can get rather busy. And that includes sunbathing or taking part in resort activities such as Aquafit water calisthenics or pantyhose bowling, a game where two teams attach a length of panty hose to their head with a tennis ball at the end and attempt to be the first to knock down bottles of water.
While New England has a deeply rooted 500-year history of Puritanism, Greenhouse, along with Ronna Krozy, a trustee for the Eastern Region American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR), said Solair has nothing that people should object to.
“Once you drop the body shaming and accept that the naked body is just who you are and accept we have rules about behavior, what’s the problem?” Greenhouse asked. “Some people think it’s as a hippie-dippy leftist thing; it’s not at all. We have Trumpists here, we have guys with pick-up trucks who are tradesmen. We have the whole gamut.”
“What’s really important to me is people understand what it is not,” Krozy said. “People have strange notions that it has to do with sex. It isn’t. It’s about wholesome, healthy, positive living. It’s a good way to raise children. It’s a good way to recognize we don’t look like Sports Illustrated. It’s like trying to describe a flavor, if you’ve never had it, you wouldn’t understand.”
Krozy said people should visit and see what the resort is really about before passing judgment.
“It’s more important that people give themselves the opportunity to meet folks who are naturists or nudists and recognize we could be your neighbor, we could be your minister, we could be your physician, your nurse, your teacher,” she said. “The problem with puritanical thinkers is it makes it difficult to be open and say, ‘I’m a nudist and who cares?’”
Resort attendees represent a wide swath of people. Bumper stickers on vehicles in the parking lot represent hard-line anti-vaxxer Donald Trump supporters to far left Bernie Sanders liberals.
The physiques of the guests range from svelte petite to the rotund. Regardless of their politics or appearance, the community camaraderie was courteous and friendly.
“It’s very freeing,” Greenhouse said. “It’s very democratizing. You don’t see me wearing expensive clothes. It’s a very leveling kind of thing. It is much easier to take your clothes off with other people who are nude. There’s a certain confidence. You are willing to do this, I’m willing to do this, we’re in this together. It’s very freeing.”
On July 24, Parker Smith of Wethersfield was visiting Solair for the second time with his second cousin Anthony Tedeschi.
“It was relaxing and refreshing,” he said, describing his first visit. “I didn’t know it existed.”
He said it has been a bit of a culture shock to his hometown friends and family of St. Louis, Missouri.
“But, for me it’s fine,” he said. “You can do whatever you want. You can go on a nature walk, you can go over to the pool, there’s no restrictions. You feel welcome and open. It’s great to have like-minded individuals and connect with one another. We come from very different backgrounds. One can be a bus driver and another can be a bank president. It doesn’t matter what you are or what you earn. It doesn’t matter.”
“I mentioned it to him about a month ago,” Tedeschi said, who has been visiting the resort for about five years. “(Parker) said he’d like to see it. I’ve made so many friends here.”
Not everyone is as open about their nudism as Smith and Tedeschi, as some said they’re still worried about stigmatism.
“There are a lot of people here who are not out because they’re afraid they’ll be ostracized or lose their jobs,” Greenhouse said, including a friend of hers, a male kindergarten teacher, who used to attend the resort.
“He was really afraid,” she said.
“Most of us have children,” Krozy said. “Many of us are grandparents. Children are our pride and joy and we protect them. We protect everybody. That is what we are about. We are about wholesome living. Everybody watches out for the children. If there is even the slightest inkling or concern, they report it and that person is asked to leave immediately. Anything that makes another person uncomfortable is unwanted here.”
Stepping out fully nude is understandably a scary experience for some people.
“We have some situations where there’s a couple and one party wants to come and the other person doesn’t,” Greenhouse said. “The minute they got here and see they were like everybody else, it was fine. People would say, “I wasn’t going to get undressed, but then it felt weird having my clothes on.””
Though incidents are rare, if something does occur, emergency and security teams are on stand-by, and if anyone visiting becomes visibly aroused, they are encouraged to cover themselves, turn over in their seat, or take a dip in the pond to cool down.
Hygiene is important while visiting a nudist resort as most people interchangeably sit naked on furniture throughout the resort.
“We don’t want someone else’s excretions on us,” Krozy said. “Rule No. 1 is take a towel to sit on, everywhere.”
There are a variety of rates for admission to the resort. For a day pass there’s a $30 introductory promotion for couples and families for the first four visits. Full-time students pay $10, The intro rate for people younger than 40 is $25, American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) members pay $35, and all others 18 and older pay $50. Children younger than 18 and women visiting for the first time unaccompanied by a male are free.
Annual rates range from $61 to $3,876.98 depending on membership program, including associate rates and membership/shareholder rates, which include membership in AANR.
The resort also has properties for sale that people can occupy during the season — RV lots and fully furnished cabins.
Recently, Solair began advertising its brand in a more public manner.
In 2019, they started posting a seasonal ad that runs in the late spring and early summer, on a digital billboard in East Hartford, north of Interstate 84 eastbound before Exit 59, encouraging commuters to “Undress” and “Destress,” depicting two presumably nude people in crystal clear blue water.
According to the state Department of Transportation website, the annual average daily traffic at that site on I-84 is 165,600 vehicles.
East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc was initially unaware of the ad and said there have been no complaints from anyone about the ad.
“A review by our Corporation Counsel’s Office found no violations of our ordinances exist nor does it restrict such ads in town,” Leclerc responded in an email. “While we may not feel it appropriate, there is nothing that would limit the owner of the billboard or the company from advertising their business.”
