THE NATURIST LEGACY FILES

NUDIST NO MORE

My name is John Kundert. I'm a founder of both Naturist Legacy Inc. and Naturist Legacy Park. I was their first member and served as their president in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. I played a central role in helping them create their corporation, buy their land, build their nudist park and grow their membership.

These were mistakes.

I chose to leave both Naturist Legacy and social nudism in 2016.

I maintain this website for archival, historical and educational purposes only.

Please be aware that this website does not recommend, endorse, approve or promote Naturist Legacy Inc. or Naturist Legacy Park. Neither do I.

All content here is free. I do not benefit financially — and have never benefited financially — from Naturist Legacy Park, Naturist Legacy Inc. or this website.

HOW IT STARTED

It was April, 2010. Crocus Grove Sun Club had just learned that we had lost our home of forty years. The club's executive board was meeting in emergency session. All were devastated by the news. Tears were shed, memories were exchanged, and concerns were shared. It all seemed a little too much like a funeral or a wake. People were rattled to the core, and nothing looked other than dark. Everyone tried to be positive, but inwardly most felt that landed social nudism in Manitoba had just died.

The future looked bleak. The club had only about $12,000 in the bank. What could we do with such little money? One board member suggested that maybe the club could meet on Patricia Beach a few times a year. Many around that table seemed resigned to the idea that the club would never again have a permanent home.

But not everyone shared that view. Where most saw doom and gloom, those of us with business skills saw opportunity. To us, that $12,000 was not all that we had, but was actually seed money to grow something new. Where others saw limitation, we saw opportunity. I remember that John Kundert and I started to toss around some pretty grand ideas that night. People around that table must have thought that we had both just cracked. Eventually they began to catch on to what we were talking about. Everyone started to catch the fever that John and I were suffering, and a new enthusiasm was born. Even though some around that table may not have fully understood what we were talking about, and even though some were not fully convinced that it would work, hope began to rise in their hearts. Before the meeting was over, the basic core of the Legacy Project had been born, and we were on our way back from the brink of disaster.

With that board's support and encouragement, John and I brainstormed through all hours of the night, for days and weeks on end. From endless hours of research and debate we gradually honed our plan. We continued to bring plans and ideas and concepts back to the board, and from them seek support and input. In the end, only a small portion of that original $12,000 in seed money was needed to generate more than $200,000 worth of investment in our new home — Naturist Legacy Park. That's what people with business backgrounds can do in action. We saw opportunity and potential where most others would have seen limitations or the end of the road. It's those business skills that have brought us back from the abyss, and that have established our new home. It's those business skills that have earned the trust of the membership to properly care for their investments — large and small — and to use them to utmost advantage in order to ensure our immediate and long-term success.

What we have carved out of the forest and what we have managed to create is a marvel in itself. I hope it will be a haven for naturists for generations to come. Without the overwhelming support and generous financial contributions from the membership, and the implicit trust in our ability and skills to make this all work, none of what we see at Naturist Legacy Park would be here today. If you really look hard at what we now have, the only people who can stop this great venture and kill social nudism in Manitoba is ourselves. We alone will either make it or break it, so it is all completely in our hands now. It is our responsibility to make it a success. We're no longer a social club, but a true standing corporation with assets and liabilities, tax issues, legal issues and the list goes on. If we fail this time, there will be no one else to blame but ourselves. Nothing is ever permanent. If we take our eyes off the prize, if we rest when we should work, if we stop taking all this seriously, we are destined to fail.

We were fortunate that the winds of those days put the right people in place, and we were fortunate that members were there with understanding and trust. You turned that trust over in hopes of a better tomorrow. Well, that tomorrow came, but it did not come easy. Our do or die mantra, our "failure is not an option" mentality, coupled with the support of the people around that board table, gave birth to the Legacy Project, which in turn became Naturist Legacy Park.

But all of this comes with a clear warning.

If you tamper with the model that helped us arrive, you risk it all. We have a formula that works. It is proven every time you drive through our nudist park gate. You can ignore the advice from those who made that gate happen, but to what end? Why would anyone risk it? Have we already forgotten what happened in 2010? In all that we do, in all that we decide, the overwhelming motivation must be the success and survival of Naturist Legacy Park, first and foremost.

SOURCE: This article (edited for length, clarity and title) was written by Naturist Legacy co-founder Mark Brown. He presented it to members at the corporation's 2012 Annual General Meeting. You can read his full unedited article here (PDF).