At 34 degrees, and feeling even colder with the wind, Halloween was chilly this year. That didn’t stop the Naked Pumpkin Run on Pearl Street.
About thirty streakers gathered in Eben G. Fine Park to put the finishing touches on their pumpkins and get trash bags to put their clothes in. At 10:15 p.m., they headed out of the park and walked to Pearl Street. Freezing, but pumped for the run, they shouted and danced along the way to Pearl Street.
Gathering behind some buildings on 9th Street and Pearl Street, everyone took off their clothing and put their carved pumpkins on their heads. Once everyone was baring all, there was a loud countdown, 10.9.8. then everyone ran.
Laden with heavy pumpkin heads to hide their faces and wearing only sneakers and long socks, the runners ran down the mall waving at onlookers and shouting. People on Pearl Street took pictures and cheered for the runners, giving them high fives as they passed. One man shouted, “No one wants to see that.”
They would trip occasionally because they couldn’t see out of their pumpkin heads, and a couple of people dropped their bags of clothing and had to stop to gather up strewn items, but they all made it to the finish at the courthouse lawn.
The exhibitionists smiled as they pulled clothes onto their freezing bodies. One man got on a trashcan to shout about making sure all the pumpkins were cleaned up so that a mess would not ruin it for future years of Pearl-Street streakers.
One streaker was laughing and telling her friend via cell phone, “You would not believe what I just did.”
Many stayed naked for a while on the lawn, clearly enjoying the experience. Most though, looked too cold to expose themselves for long.
