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FARMINGTON – Thousands of spectators swarmed the downtown to get a glimpse of 25 women and a half dozen men without their shirts on.
Traffic came to a complete halt at 1 p.m. as the topless marchers left Meetinghouse Park, crossed Main Street and walked south towards Abbott Park, a half mile away.
March organizer Andrea Simoneau, 22, a University of Maine at Farmington history major from Brooks, held the event today as a protest against what she sees as society’s bias; with shirtless men in public being seen as acceptable in public while topless women are not. There is no law in Maine prohibiting bare-chested women in public. A similar topless march was held in Portland on April 3. In the weeks leading up to the march, Simoneau caused a stir in downtown when she stood without a shirt on at Main and Broadway to distribute flyers announcing the march today.
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“I’m really excited about all the people, both for and against this, who came today,” Simoneau said standing in a little plaid skirt before the march began. Surrounded by a crowd of mostly men who smiled and took photos of her and a few other topless women, Simoneau looked around and said she’d wished more women had shown up. Her disappointment was short lived when several ladies standing in the crowd suddenly pulled off their shirts at 1 p.m. for the start of the march.
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Standing up on the gazebo’s railing she told the big crowd that there are two reasons for the march.
“It’s highlighting that it’s legal for females in Maine to be topless,” which brought much applause and, “to protest the social double standard when topless women go outside, it causes a stir,” she said lifting her arms as the crowd hooted and clapped.
The marchers crossed Main Street to the sidewalk, passed four women holding signs that read “Save your tatas for your luva,” “I’d like it better if you put on a sweater,” and “Be a pal – cover your gals.” The signs were held by Jennifer Kelley, 37, Syrena Clark, 15, Jacqui Clary, 27 and Kaitlyn Dufour, 17, all of Farmington, who said they want everyone – guys and gals – to keep their shirts on downtown.
“If they don’t want to wear clothes, why don’t they go live in a nudists’ colony?” Syrena Clark asked.
Spectators with cameras and cell phones filled both sides of Main Street, snapping away as the topless marchers passed by. Elaine Graham of Farmington, brought a blue blanket and, spreading it wide as she walked with the marchers, tried to shield the view from traffic.
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As many as 20 officers from the Farmington Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, the state police and UMF Department of Safety either marched along with the group or were stationed along Main Street. Most of the officers were wearing street clothes.
Lt. Jack Peck of the Farmington Police Department wore his uniform as he walked with the topless marchers. He estimated the crowd to have been two or three thousand strong.
“Our biggest concern was for the safety of the marchers and spectators,” Peck said afterward. “There was a lot more people than we thought were going to come. Thank goodness there wasn’t any trouble.” Counter demonstrators had made inquiries about coming and participating in the event, which had law enforcement worried that anger against topless women in public might create a dangerous situation.
One group led by Dovey Balsam of Industry, silently prayed in a counter protest as the marchers made their way down Main Street. Others, applauded the marchers as they passed.
As the marchers arrived at Abbott Park on the south end of UMF, Ted Blais, UMF’s Department of Safety director, stood in uniform with five or six more uniformed officers.
“Multiple agencies all worked well together,” Blais said afterward. “I’m very impressed that everyone got along here,” he said of the marchers and spectators.
Simoneau led the marchers to a shaded knoll in Abbott Park and thanked everyone for coming.
“The march was peaceful, safe and fun,” she said after coming down from the knoll to a crowd of spectators. “Even the lady with the blanket had fun,” she said of Graham, who continued to hold the blanket up in front of Simoneau.
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Embarrassed American, or you could move somewhere more liberal. It is interesting that those of us who have conventional morals and values are called immature. The immaturity is in the clueless women so deceived by comtemporary culture that they are willing to trade their dignity for some crass exhibitionism. This is in no way mature. Maturity is respecting others and considering their perspective before your own. To flaunt a “right” that many find offensive in public where we cannot avoid it is selfish to the extreme and immature. Seeing that this march and topless foolishness will only lead to more restrictions is very short-sided and shows a lack of reasoning skills. This is far from maturity. You just don’t understand that by walking topless in public, these girls are forcing THEIR beliefs on those of us who don’t want to see it. We DO NOT want to to be dragged down to this debased level. You may call it enlightenment- we call it depravity.
and all the area business thrived!!!!!lets do it again the gals looked like they could lose some weight
Embarassed in Farmington,
You nailed it right on the head, even though you didn’t mean to. You referred to “comtemporary culture”. In doing so you inferred that the contemporary culture endorses or at least condones/permits such activity. Cultures change over time. Just as it was once part of our culture for men to wear full length bathing suits, now it is part of our culture for them to wear much smaller attire. In the Victorian Era, women were to wear corsets and full length gowns, but now the contemporary culture looks at such attire as prudish. If you wish to return to the Victorian Era, that is your choice, but please don’t force your standards upon the entire community. .
“majority of TRUE patriots support this law”???
WOW, now it is UN-AMERICAN to be topfree, or even condone top-freedom. So now, Embarassed in Farmington claims to speak not only for the entire Town of Farmington, and the State of Maine, but claims to be able to set standards for patriotism (and eventually citizenship, or even the right to be in this country). With delusions such as this roaming the gray cells within EiF’s head, it is difficult to take any statement he/she says with any level of seriousness. Next EiF will be declaring him/herself as the exalted leader of the world. I have some friends in Augusta who can help you.
This is now OLD NEWS. Time to move on.
Some people liked it, some people didn’t, and some of us thought that what happened was no big deal. I enjoyed last Friday because of the carnival like atmosphere; this obviously doesn’t happen everyday. But the truth is that I have mixed feelings about all of it.
To those of you who are offended that such a display would come to Farmington I would offer that we live in an area that was partly settled by rainbow people and is still rumored to have some of the best marijuana growing in the state. Farmington has survived this and other “depravities” and is still a nice place to live.
To those of you who are offended by prudishness and are all about people’s rights to demonstrate topless: I love this town, and a part of that is that we don’t have to deal with adult bookstores, strip clubs and women (and men) soliciting sex on the street. I have enjoyed raising my kids in this environment. I am aware that adult bookstores and strip clubs enjoy protection under the constitution, and I’m not fighting to take away anyone’s rights. I am also mature enough not to be offended or sexually paranoid of such places, but I still do not want them here.
I do not know if Farmington will pass a law about this topless foolishness. It would be interesting if it was put to a vote. I think if it was, I might vote in favor of such a law. But I certainly wish that we could just show respect for each other and just live peacefully. If you want to go topless don’t disrespect those who don’t want to see it. If you don’t want to see someone topless, just look the other way.
Gary,
Just look the other way? The time I saw her she made sure everyone in the barber shop on the other side of the glass got a good look. No one in there liked being put in that position. She was there before any of us knew what happened.
Hypothetical: driving my kids through town to do business. Hey kids close your eyes quick. Wow, what a way to live. No, thanks. I will move first.
But I certainly wish that we could just show respect for each other and just live peacefully.
If you want to go topless don’t disrespect those who don’t want to see it.
If you don’t want to see someone topless, just look the other way.
Hey all of you conservative folks out there, I think you should take your own advise,and find a more worthy cause to donate your time to. 25 females out of how many in Franklin County choose to march, I don’t see this as becoming the latest trend. And as far as being worried about your poor kids having to see a breast, they could be seeing alot worse. If it wasn’t for the college they would be seeing boarded-up storefronts and homeless people huddeled around a barrelfire in the park, or perhaps their own parents in the welfare line because there were no jobs in town. Were those ladies foolish for marching ,YES, but no more so than you all are for making such a big deal out of it. You are giving them more attention than they could have ever hoped for.