While canceled in other cities — including in St. Louis, London and San Francisco — the Portland, Oregon, chapter has instead announced that the show must go on, just with a little more social distancing than usual.
Instead of gathering at a set location and time, anyone who wishes to participate are simply encouraged to strip down, hop on, and ride wherever and whenever they’d like, event organizers announced Tuesday.
The World Naked Bike Ride will now be celebrated, instead, as World Naked Bike Ride Day. It’s June 27th — save the date.
“It might take even more courage than usual, but if any city has the creativity to make it fun, it’s Portland,” said Pedalpalooza, the organization that oversees the massive annual event.
The organizers first announced last month that the city’s Naked Bike Ride would look a little bit different this year due to the pandemic.
“We simply must put the safety of Portlanders first,” organizers wrote in a Facebook post at the time. “We are bigger than the virus, and even if we have to ride circles in our living rooms in the buff, we will ride on.”
The annual event, which last year saw 10,000 participants in varying degrees of undress, is meant to protest against society’s dependency on oil as well as promote cyclist safety and body positivity. While public nudity is illegal in Portland, the Naked Bike Ride has been allowed because it is an official protest.
It’s not clear, though, what that means for participants riding around nude by themselves.
CNN reached out to the Portland Police for comment. They didn’t respond.
But bureau spokeswoman Nola Watts told the Oregonian, “If PPB receives phone calls for service regarding public indecency we will investigate and issue citations if deemed necessary.”
source: cnn.com