Lake O’ the Woods Club of Valparaiso, the second-oldest, continually-operating nudist club in the United States is celebrating its 82nd anniversary during National Nude Week, July 5-12.

Again this year, LOWC members and visitors will gather in the pool on July 11 at the designated time with all other AANR affiliated clubs and businesses. Although in 2009, AANR established the skinny dipping Guinness World Record, and then broke it in 2010, this year’s campaign is geared towards attracting newcomers to nude recreation.

Skinny dipping is a quintessential American experience, immortalized in Norman Rockwell and Thomas Eakins paintings, by writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, poet Walt Whitman, enjoyed by public figures such as Ben Franklin, presidents J.Q. Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, JFK, LBJ and experienced by millions of Americans who are not card carrying nudists. Whether it’s in a backyard pool, out of the way swimming holes or somewhere more public under the cover of darkness, many if not most, Americans have enjoyed skinny dipping at some point.

More information about the anniversary of the skinny dipping experience is available from Megan Brady at Lake of The Woods Club, 1353 Sager Road, Valaparaiso, IN 46383, or (219) 241-0739.