Friday, October 03, 2008

Ohio Naturist Club on the Verge of Failure

In a blog post today, the Buckeye Naturists have announced that this could be their final season of winter swims.
Last winter we enjoyed a marked increase in attendance at the swims and in club memberships. If this trend continues we are close to being at the break-even point financially. If either declines, we may not be able to continue throughout the entire 2008-2009 season.
TBN has been failing for some time now. A decade ago, at a better venue, the club would draw about 100 people at their swim events. The pool currently being used is run-down with terrible bathroom and shower facilities, and gets very chilly on cold winter nights. Now TBN is lucky to get 25-30 people, drawn from their membership as well as from their sister club Have Sun Will Travel.

During the summer, TBN is lucky to get half a dozen people to its landed clubs outings.

Gender inequality is also a serious problem, with membership comprised primarily of older males.

So I'm not surprised that TBN is failing. The club needs a serious injection of new ideas and enthusiasm, elements I personally tried to bring to the table, but were met with stubborn resistance to change.

With the recent folding of The Buckeye Bares in Akron/Canton, there are fewer and fewer non-landed clubs in Ohio. That is bad news for single males who generally find that joining these clubs is the only way they can engage in social nudism.

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1 comment:

Rick said...

I agree. When I first became involved with the club, I actually wondered if they were a last man standing nudist club.

It was through TBN that I took my first steps into social nudism. Maybe I could have done it on my own but being with the club made it a little easier for me. The visits with TBN helped me to learn the ropes and give me the confidence to visit a resort on my own. Although I haven't been able to attend as many of the summer visits as I would have liked, I've been disappointed by the attendance when I was able to make it. At one visit last summer, it was just one member and me. I suppose White Thorn's Volleyball Super Bowl is well attended.

I'm planning to attend the October 18th swim to see how it goes. I'm not expecting much, however. I hear about what other non-landed clubs across the country are doing and wonder why "my" club isn't doing more. I guess people want the benefits of belonging to a club but don't want to put any work into it, leaving everything to just a few individuals who eventually get burned out. I'm willing to help out where I can but I'm a bit limited by distance.