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We’re happy to have had our description of the TNS festival printed in “N” magazine. It’s appearing in the issue due out
November, 2001.
Empire Haven TNS Festival Report for the year 2001.
We was unable to take in the entire four days but the two biggies, Friday and Saturday, were extremely enjoyable. Carol and I went by
motorcycle on the 150 mile trip from home.
Doing 75 on the Thruway is the norm but with pit stops we did the distance in just under 3 hours. The weather was threatening on Thursday and there was a bit of rain at the festival on Thursday evening. But we weren't there. Ha! *Our*
two days were totally sunny and beautiful.
Friends of ours came to our home on Friday morning to pick up our bags, tent, etc. and took them with them in their car.. This made it easier for us to take the bike..
We arrived
about 2 pm Friday and set up camp. There were many, many seminars and events.. There were three consecutive events for just about every hour of the day.. They usually consisted of specific types you could choose from... One nudist news & information, NEF/NAC officers, etc. Another was of a more environmental, health related, entertaining, children's or other such type.., and the third being spiritual, alternatives, or new age ideas. 
My canude trip friend Julia was there and held
several of the seminars herself, on nude modeling, tie dying, her top free activities, and others. Here she is telling people of her experiences in traveling the
country top free. That’s my wife’s face in the background... It was about noon Monday and we were stopping by to say good bye. This photo btw; was taken (with permission) from the tera.ca website and we wish to thank them for that.
 The old pudding toss was a total success again...
Myself and at least 30 other friendly people joined into one of the most popular events of
the weekend. It finished with a completely messy and slippery group hug, and then a can-can line up and kick pose for the photographer. Unfortunately we can’t show a
picture of the group as we didn’t think to get all their permissions at the time.. But here is Robb and Vera away from the group...
The many 'speck'tators were unperturbed by the flying bits of chocolate they
received even though they were not in the game. A simple slosh in the shower for them and they were clean again. It was much more difficult for the participants.
Most everyone had chocolate plastered hair and every inch of their body covered with the sticky stuff. It was delicious btw.
There was some warmer water in buckets for a much slower cleanup by the wimps. :-) The cold hoses were the best though for a fast and effective job. A high pressure
garden hose and a larger volume but slower flow was played on everyone until they were about 95% cleaned. From there it was to an outside shower, one by one, for
the finishing touches. My very first pudding toss was earlier this year and this was now my third event. They've all been great fun. Nice to be a kid again.. :-) I’ll no
doubt stop doing them at some point but it really is a great demonstration of non-sexual body contact. It proves it's a concept that is alive and well. Easily
understood and accepted by many as 'nothing to it'...
One person was injured by stepping into an erosion hole and breaking a bone in her
foot. A very unhappy situation and she had terrible pain but she was back in the park later that evening, with a cast on her foot... I hope with much less pain and a
favorable prognosis. I was there to help her support herself on one foot, while the golf cart came for her. As I helped lift her into the cart, lifting her from behind under
each armpit, she nearly slid out of my arms and onto the ground because of all the slippery chocolate. But I managed another grip that worked. Then with me on one
side and someone else on the other, we got her from the cart to the outside shower directly. I personally helped her wash herself down. She really wasn't doing much of
a job on her own. We had a great time in the shower... :-) I told those gathered around that it was a very long time since I had taken such a 'personal' shower with a
lady. :-) It was amazing where all that chocolate had gotten to... But she didn't slap me once. :-)
Friday night there was a DJ dance. Many types of very danceable music. The dj's
also did several exhibitions of 'cloggin'. Cloggin seems very similar to River Dance productions that have been on T.V. for years. If not the very same? Maybe I just
don't know what RiverDance dancing is called?? One of those demo's included people who had learned basics that very afternoon in one of the 'seminars'. The
instructor said he gave them about 12 weeks of class time packed into an hour. They did *very* well. Amazingly well, to me..
From the start, and certainly because of the heat that continued into the evening, most of the dancers remained totally nude or mostly so, right up to the dance ending
at midnight. Certainly there are other such parks with similar members but Empire Haven, I must say again, is comprised of people who are very well adjusted when it
comes to *not* mixing nudity and sexual connotations. For the entire 4 hours of this nude dancing, I did not witness a single moment that would be considered
'inappropriate' for any age child to see..; by anyone's definition.
One pregnant woman who had been vigorously dancing that evening, gave birth to a
baby girl about 3 am... If not on the grounds of EH, certainly 'on the way' to the hospital. Unlike the broken foot bone, she was *not* back the next day, but that
baby will have a neat story to tell for the rest of her life. :-)
The Saturday dance was quite different.. Most everyone was 'dressed' and they
were all 'called' dances. Lot's of fun and *everyone* can get into them. All anyone has to do is follow instructions. Contra dancing. Square dancing, Virginia Reel, and
others I can't remember. As I learned each new one and got fairly good at it.., it ended and a different one started. But it was a blast learning. I'll have to learn them
all over again next time. It was a *real* job trying to keep up the speed... Those dances just totally wipe you out... :-) My legs are aching right now today, three days
later, from that dancing I did on Friday night. Delayed reaction I guess.
During the dances, and after, the fire circle was going strong. Right at the end of the
dance pavilion, a major fire was burning where full sized pallets were the 'toss on' fuel. The circle was about 30 ft in diameter with probably 50 seats around it. It went
on til 2:00 a.m. Friday night/Saturday morning. There were people drumming and singing... Hypnotic chants that I associate with 'pagans'..., but don't know if that's
*totally* correct. No one danced at this fire circle but we had very enjoyable drums, songs and conversation. There was a similar fire circle Saturday but with the dance
ending a bit sooner and so with the fire circle.., which was sans drums and singing.
Friday night cooled by 3 a.m. to the extent of being a negative for sleeping...; for
Carol. Carol's bag is only good for 40 and she felt it. Of course I would have given up mine which is good to 25 and bought for the 'canuding' trip and the possibly colder
nights, but she let me sleep... She decided not to complain too hard I guess when she remembered the previous year we both froze to the bone for the entire loooong night,
in wet and very cold bedding. She was 'hot' by comparison this year. Saturday night was much warmer and she slept right through.
Empire has two, 6 person hot tubs and one 15-18 person hot tub. Also a sauna for about 8 people. The pool depth starts at about 2 1/2 feet and stays flat for 1/3 the
distance. Then drops to 5 ft deep, which it maintains for the rest of the pool length. There is no diving at EH. There is a continuous food service in the club house until
about 5 p.m. The concession people take over then at the large dance/gathering/eating pavilion. Food packages were available for about $65 a
person for the entire four days but I felt the single meals were a bit too expensive. $10.00/person for dinner. But that's just my opinion of course.
The festival is *my* favorite event of the year and we've gone now for four years.. I like it so much I started doing the winter version this past February, down in Florida
at Sun Sport Gardens..., near West Palm. I highly recommend both for everyone.
Empire Haven TNS Festival Report for the year 2000.
We had a terrific time for those two days. Not 100 percent because of the rain but it was super.
We built a camp site that consisted of the van with the back door up and a large painters tarp strung so that it formed an overhead cover and a back wall, from the
roof of the van back for about 16 feet... We tied it to a couple of trees behind the van. Then we also had a tent but only spent the night in that... A very long night
because we had let the tent door open when we left for a while and it poured.. The tent inside became a small pond and most of our bedding got soaked. Then of course
we froze at night... It was very bad for those hours. Carol was in absolute misery. We had a friend with us who was sleeping inside the van so we stuck it out all night in the tent.
We accumulated all this y2k camping stuff you know, and of course we have to make some use of it. :-) It was so much fun I want to do it more often now... Something I
wasn't into before. It was great... Cooking on the coleman, the lanterns giving us light and heat.. The tarp kept the heat in for us, acting as a breeze break. It was
actually cozy even though totally open. We set up a card table and folding chairs under it with the coolers along the back wall.. I brought along the bug out bags...
Both suitcases. Didn't need many things from them but they were a great laugh, consisting as they do of Fleet syringes and other strange things.. :-)
The people we met were totally awesome. There was a fun dance at night with a disk jockey. He and a partner did several session of what they called Cloggin. It
seemed to be a Scotish (?) national thing done with wooden soles or taps. Really nice to watch and hear. Then there were some redheaded, Irish (?), girls there who
did Riverdance type dancing and there was Virginia Reel and contra dancing and also what seemed to me to be Cajun dancing... This was done by ‘Vera’, I learned
later. :-) Doug Kirshaw type of music. The people there weren't just *trying* to do these things... They were really good at it!! It was beautiful.. The whole night
and group looked like a scene that you would see choreographed for a movie.
I have to mention Jxxxxxx. Even with the xxx's, I'm sure many will know who I
mean. A young girl who was like no one Carol nor I had ever seen before. An absolutely beautiful, 16 (?) year old who, to us, went to the extreme in so many good
directions at once, it is hard to imagine. Her personality, completely open and friendly to all and totally at ease with nudity. She spent a lot of time with, and was
very good to, many of the children who were there; teaching them things and otherwise keeping them entertained..., like she was caring for them. At first I
thought some were family but she told me no.., just kids she met there.. Her dancing was extremely good. My wife said she was a natural and probably never
had to practice. I mean it was totally fascinating to watch just her hands move... Her name is even unusual and nice... Carol thought it was so appropriate that it be so.
I mention her because anyone who is that well adjusted and seemingly such a nice person, just has to be complimented. Or perhaps more properly, her parents should
get a lot of credit for a job well done. Unfortunately, I have to say Carol and I are somewhat jealous of these people. :-)
Getting back to the festival itself, it was well run, in spite of the rain. Informative sessions, good food, the great dances at night and other good times during the day...
Kids sling shooting water balloons 200-250 ft through the air to a catcher who actually did catch a few... A terrific and very funny pudding toss... That was a
complete mass maul with everyone ending up looking like they just came out of a mud bath...
It was above all, the people... At one point I looked down on the pool with everyone
sunning around it, and the pool itself full of all ages having great fun, and thought how sad it was that the outside could not understand and see how everything really
*should* be. That one moment made all the rain we had suffered, completely irrelevant.
We're making that trip *twice* next year! :-)
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