2021.08.15 Toronto Star
Most visitors and staff are used to roaming the grounds of this family resort in York Region wearing nothing more than a smile. But these days, those smiles are sometimes covered by one acceptable piece of attire at Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park - a face mask.
After months of pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions, an influx of new families and young adults have flocked to the park in search of more freedom - without clothing - and to explore a new way of life, said Stéphane Deschênes, the park’s owner.
“When you take it all off like this, after feeling oppressed by being trapped inside, it really feels liberating,” Deschênes said. Brady Alisauskas enjoys a pint of beer and a bit of shade at the bistro at Bare Oaks.
Over the winter months, some visitors felt so “desperate” for a taste of the community the park offers that they were sneaking in, he added. “I know how badly people need this ... I felt a duty to let people come here as soon as possible,” Deschênes said. Bare Oaks reopened to visitors on late May, when Ontario moved into Stage One of its reopening plan. By the Canada Day long weekend, the annual volleyball tournament was in full swing.
Greg Snow, the president of the Federation of Canadian Naturists - who happens to live at Bare Oaks - said interest has grown in naturism, with the organization’s membership increasing by about 35 per cent since last August. There are roughly 1,050 members now, compared to 831 the year before.
From Snow’s conversations with new members, one of the reasons for the boost in interest during the pandemic seems to be that more people are “seeing [their] mortality,” he said.
Let’s do it - we don’t know if we’re going to be around tomorrow,” Snow said, referring to what he’s heard from new members. “It’s a great lifestyle because people experience the freedom of naturism, and their stress just goes right down.
"There are 11 naturist groups and resorts in the province, he said. While those tied to property - like Bare Oaks - have seen a boom in business, others that get together for group swims or activities have seen a decline, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Christine Seretis wears a mask and an apron as she serves up a chicken caesar wrap with a side of fries to a member at the Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park.
Bare Oaks park is situated on 50 acres of land in East Gwillimbury, with over 100 camping sites, two ponds, one small lake, two streams and a river. As of Wednesday, there were 830 members, but the number is probably higher because children are not always recorded in the park’s database, Deschênes said.
Visitors and members can enjoy activities, like yoga, meditation, billiard and ping pong. Amenities include horseshoe pits, Pétanque courts, nature trails, a children’s playground, outdoor deck, swimming pool and lounge. It’s a modern setting to practice a traditional view on naturism, which is not just about nudity, Deschênes explained. It’s about people fostering respect for others, the environment and their true authentic selves. “When we talk about living a natural life, it doesn’t mean I sleep in the bushes over there,” Deschênes said, waving towards nearby shrubbery. “We’re working with our body in concert with nature. The nudity is just a tool to do that.”
Karen Bowen, the park’s operations manager, said it’s been “crazy” to watch attendance jump and the community flourish.
Her theory is that with fewer opportunities to travel outside the country or even the province, people who always wanted to visit a naturist park and check the item off their bucket list finally took the plunge. After just a couple visits, they often want to become members, she said. “People are kind of getting back to basics, and we certainly offer that. We love to see people change in front of our eyes, especially women,” Bowen said. “We offer a safe place, and a suntan.”
Leslie Pickett has been visiting the park for over 10 years with her children. For her, it’s a place to “reset” how she feels about her body. “In the textile world ... everyday someone objectifies you. There’s a male that’s going to look you up and down. [Bare Oaks] is the first place that’s never happened to me,” Pickett, 44, said. When she’s not at the park, she runs a daycare in Kingston. Never miss the latest news from the Star, including up-to-date coronavirus coverage, with our email newsletters. “It’s really important for me to spend a lot of time at [Bare Oaks] with my children ... they don’t look at people as being young and old, or larger or smaller, or having scars ... I’ve never heard them make a comment about that or judge,” Pickett said. When Bowen first started visiting the park over six years ago, she was contemplating having cosmetic surgery to change her body after having children, she said. But becoming a member changed her mind.
“When I came [to Bare Oaks], I thought, everybody loves me anyway. I don’t have to spend all this money on making people like me,” Bowen said. While nudity is a requirement for visitors at Bare Oaks - which sets it apart from clothing-optional resorts - face masks aren’t necessarily a departure from the “traditional naturist values” the park boasts. In fact, they match the park’s philosophy that clothing is worn only for protection, said Bowen. “The mask was just as new to us as it was for everybody. But it’s used for protection, and so are clothes,” she added. “We see our clothes the same way as the masks. We already have that philosophy.” Kim Lariviere prepares a caesar wrap as Christine Seretis gets some French fries cooking in the bistro at the Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park.
For example, Deschênes wears shoes to protect his feet from hot gravel. Staff at the park’s restaurant, the Bare Bistro, can don aprons when working in the kitchen. Deschênes, however, likes to fry bacon in the nude, he said, braving the risk of hot oil splatters. But Pickett prefers to be clothed in the face of bacon grease, knowing herself to get slightly too “up close and personal” with cooking tools. She once accidentally burned one of her breasts bending over a barbecue.
Christine Seretis, an employee at the bistro, sometimes wraps an apron around her waist when working. The bistro serves up meals like the “nude sausage, a Polish sausage with onions, mustard and sauerkraut, or the “fully dressed sausage” which comes with the additional toppings of bacon and cheese. Being at the park has improved her body image and self-acceptance, she said. “You see all different shapes, sizes, everything here. It makes me think that my body is my body, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Seretis, 19, said. “In the social media age, you see models that are really skinny. [Being at Bare Oaks] is giving me the opportunity to think I don’t have to look like that to be good looking or happy.”
Kim Lariviere, who runs the bistro, said it’s been “amazing” to see the new and old families make their way back to the park. She’s “become so attached” to the children and puppies, she added. “We’re seeing faces that we haven’t seen in two years. It actually brings tears to my eyes, because we have a large elderly community, and some haven’t come back,” said Lariviere, 60. “We’ve never had this abundance of young people, and young people with families ... It makes my heart happy.” Kim Lariviere pours a Bare Oaks branded beer at the family naturist park in East Gwillimbury, Ont.
Over at Ponderosa Nature Resort - described on its website as “Canada’s loveliest family nudist resort” - in Freelton, Ont., the pandemic has “hurt business,” said manager Leonor Klauz in an email to the Star. “Only now are we experiencing a surge in interest and experiencing some new clients, but all in all our business is down substantially due to COVID,” Klauz said. Internationally, naturism is seeing a rise in participation. For example, British Naturism, the national body for naturism in the United Kingdom, has seen a 20 per cent increase in membership since the pandemic began, according to the website InsideHook.
Brady Alisauskas, 28, who does maintenance and outdoor work at Bare Oaks, said the scariest part of participating in the fun at the park is arriving for the first time, and walking through the gate in the buff. But the experience is for everyone; there’s nobody that wouldn’t benefit from breaking out of the “fears, anxieties, and hang-ups” they’ve accepted about parts of their body being shameful, he said. “There’s something about being an adult, and being able to run into the water, and run back out naked, and just drip dry and plop yourself down in the sand. It’s a feeling of freedom that you haven’t felt since you were very, very young.”
