Happy 40th Anniversary
Celebration day - Saturday , July 10, 2004
With the President’s permission and in anticipation of our 40th Anniversary, I have taken the opportunity to do a brief history of Helios. These are my thoughts and perceptions and my dates may be off a little but they are as close as I can get. With the editor’s permission I will over the next few issues of The Barer tell you the story of Helios, it’s past and present. The future is a mystery, but we know that with all the wonderful members we have, that Helios will go on and on and get better and better -- Shirley S.
40th Anniversary
When Adam and Eve were nude, they had their Garden of Eden. We, the members of Helios, have our own Garden of Eden and much work has been done in the past and present to make it a place that we all can be a part of and be proud of. Through all the ups and downs over the years, Helios is still around. The members past and present were the ones responsible for making this happen. Land or no land, problems or no problems, the key ingredient of Helios is the membership. The people of Helios are able to pull together and be proud of their hard work and what they have accomplished.
Part One Pre Helios Era or Way, way back then
Edmonton has been home to the practice of social nudism in a club setting for many years. The first recorded was in 1924 and disbanded a few years later, then in the late 1930’a another group took form. Both of these groups used the Big Island in the North Saskatchewan River. This club also disbanded. Both clubs had problems with unsympathetic city authorities.
In the late 1940’s a club was formed , many members from the 1930’s group were a part of this club and they were called Then Edmontans. The club had use of a farm about 80 miles outside the city but because of the distance and the difficult access they were fortunate enough to move to a spot on a lake only 50 miles away. ( keep in mind what the cars and roads were like at that time.) In 1951, when the owner died, the club disbanded. In 1956, another attempt was made to revive the Edmontans, along with a group that had formed at Mannville. Unfortunately this did not work out.
In 1958, the Social Nudists of Edmonton, finally got their start and from this start, here we are today. The club was called The Noraltans. In 1959, the club had 40 members and had leased some land around a lake, where they could water ski as well as enjoy nude recreation to it’s fullest. The Noraltans used this property for several years and affiliated with the WCSA/ASA (now WCAANR/AANR) in 1962.
In 1963, along came Dieter. With all due respect, he is the grandfather of Helios. He associated with the Noraltans for awhile and then in 1964, because of his goals and philosophy, he went about setting up a new club called Helios Edmonton. He and the members drew up a new constitution and acquired land in the Jarvie area, north of Edmonton. He encouraged member to contribute to develop their club.
This is the conclusion of Part One, look for Part 2 in the next Barer.
Did you know Helios Nudist Association’s colors are blue and yellow?
Helios History Part 2
Helios Edmonton’s original charter from the ASA ( American Sunbathing Association, now known as AANR - American Association for Nude Recreation) is dated October 10, 1964.
To get a charter a club must apply, have “x” number of members and be sponsored by another club in the region. There was also a waiting period.
The Dieter Era
Dave and I have been members of Helios Edmonton for most of the last 34 years. We first became aware of Helios in the summer of 1964, much to our surprise, when visiting Dave’s parents on their farm, east of Jarvie, they had some interesting news for us. Dieter had visited all the neighbors to inform them of his intentions to open up a nudist campground. This was quite a shock for the community but there did not seem to be any resistance and it did generate a lot of talk. Dave’s parents retired from farming in 1965 and moved to the city. Over the next few years there was always a weekly ad for Helios in the TV Times. Dieter appeared on numerous talk shows and even a half our TV show. I have always admired people who are able to appear before the public to talk about their life style. Helios has always been fortunate to have members who are willing to do this.
In the fall of 1969, we answered an ad. This was a big step for me, coming from a family where nude or partially nude was very much a no no. Very quickly we received a response and were invited to an information night at the Edmonton Library. There Dieter had some home movies of the campground and club activities. There was an invitation to come to our first swim at the downtown YMCA. So we took the plunge and haven’t looked back and thoroughly enjoy our nudist life style.
Dieter was a very intelligent person, who you either liked or didn’t like. He certainly had his own philosophy on nudism and how a club should be operated. He expected or demanded a lot of co-operation from the members. Helios had a board, Dieter was always President and his wife had a position on the Board. He held Friday night saunas in his home, after converting his basement for club activities. This included a sauna, a small pool, shower area and a Rec. room. He owned the land the campground was on and he ran the club with an iron fist. Perry once used the term “benevolent dictatorship” and this certainly was Dieter only I am sure that many times the “benevolent part was not there.. The campground was on 1/4 section of land. When you arrived at the gate, after honking your horn, someone would come and let you in. The campground itself was situated in the center, where it was well treed. The land had been purchased with an old farm house on it. This was converted to a club facility, with kitchen facilities and a place to relax and visit with other members. Bedrooms had been converted into rentals if anyone wanted to spend the night, weekend or even the whole summer. There was an above ground pool and a play area for children. Over the next few years these grounds evolved into a very nice campground, a new club house was built. The club house was large, with patio doors down the length of the building facing the southwest to capture every little ray of sunshine there was.
In 1970 or 1971, Helios Edmonton, held their first WCSA convention. We were going to attend, but being raised in that part of the country we knew what 2 weeks worth of rain would do to the roads. The club had made a new road into the grounds, which was shorter than the previous road. A friendly neighbor pulled the camping units, with his tractor, into the site and out of the site when the weekend was over. As I wrote earlier, you either loved Dieter or you didn’t. I have many great memories of this time. I didn’t have a problem with Dieter’s philosophy and I always knew that Helios was Dieter’s club. He expected or demanded a lot of the members and this was, in my opinion, the reason that Helios Edmonton fell apart.
In November of 1971, Helios members held a special meeting with the idea that they would take Helios Edmonton away from Dieter. Their reasoning was that they had been misled into believing the their charter was for a “member” operated Society not an “owner “ operated society. This did not work out. Dieter was not on the Board but was still collecting the mail. In February of 1972, the majority of the members started over again, writing a new constitution and by-laws, changing the post office box and then became known as Helios 1398 after their box number and starting the process of trying to get the land back. . In the process they lost the land, and sauna nights and had to work very hard to keep the club going. Dieter moved away and the land was appropriated by the Government for a re-hab facility.
Helios 1398 had the members and this is the most important ingredient in the organization. I sat through many a long meeting, where great discussions were about where the comma should be placed in the by-laws. The intent was to not let anything like this happen again. The members went on with activities, swims, house parties, volley ball tournaments and using the ground facilities of Glendon Park and Canyon Valley. The charter from the ASA in the clubhouse is from this time (1973).
So this is the end of the “The Dieter Era”
and then>>>>>>>>>>
Glendon Park was another off shoot of The Noraltans. They used a farmers field south of Carvel. If you ever hear the phrase from old-timers “Ashroot’s place, this was where it was. It was only used for day use. This club disbanded shortly after 1973.
Canyon Valley was owned and operated by two couples. One from Calgary and the other from Helios. Their intent was to have a clothing optional campground with a free beach. They purchased 1/2 section of land on the south shore of Wizard Lake. They set up the campground on the west side of the property where their was an open field. This was very rustic. A water well and a few toilets. Lots of room to park camping equipment. The major problem was the campground was at the top of a very steep cliff and the lake was at the bottom. Thank goodness, I was much younger then. Going down was much easier than coming up from the lake. They spent a couple of summers on the west side, and then the lady from Calgary passed away and the couple from Helios decided to move the grounds to the east end of the property. There was a major power line running through the property, with a gate and a good road down to the lake. The campground was situated halfway to the lake and there was a nice beach on the lake, which caused a lot of boat traffic close to shore. The owners decided to live on the property. The second summer they asked Dave and I to manage the campground. Over the winter , they decided not to have the campground where they lived and back to the rustic end we went. Nothing much had changed, except that we built a gate into the property as nearby they were building a subdivision. Helios members used these grounds when they wanted to, but it was still a clothing optional campground with no membership requirements. That lasted for 2 years. So all in all there was 6 summers where members could have a place to practice social nudism. Helios was very active in the winter months with their swims and other activities but the membership remained small in comparison with what it had been like in Dieter’s days. The draw to any club is having land.
In 1979, two couples from Helios, formed a company called Taha Holdings and bought the land that is now Helios. They each moved a mobile home onto the property and brought their families there to live.
Did you know the Helios banner in the clubhouse, with the nude figures was made by Marlies for the 1992 Convention?
Helios History Part 3 1979-1990
I have called upon some other people to help with this bit of history and to the best of our ability we have come up with this information. So thanks go to Lori, Darlene, Mitch and Craig (in Italics).—Shirley S.
In 1979, 2 couples, Robin & Lori Ha..., and Lamont & Darlene Ta..., purchased 20 acres of land. Forming Taha Holdings. These 2 couples moved lock, stock and barrel and children onto the grounds. They made a lease agreement with Helios 1398 on April 4, 1979. Over the next few years Lamont and Darlene sold their shares to Robin.
In the spring of 1980, development was underway in making Helios a place for members can practice Social Nudism in a relaxed, friendly family atmosphere and to escape from the hectic city life and also for the making of new friends.
Club House
At the time, there was only one road into the grounds, which ended at the gate. The only structure was a shack with 4 walls that was up at the main gate. They also had attached a hot tub in the vicinity of their cabin. This was purchased by a couple and moved down the hill (in which they made into a cabin for their own use). When they decided to leave the club, we purchased it from them and that became our clubhouse for many years. Which we all enjoyed, it was adjacent to the fire pit and many an enjoyable evening was held there. The clubhouse was named the Bare Aces.
For the first year, I can still recall one couple saying, Robin and Lori; you guys are never going to make it. That was because we had to walk from the neighbors just to get to our home. It was so muddy in the spring we had to park down on the main road. Here we are many years later still surviving.
Aqua Center
In 1980, this is when the Aqua Center was built. It consisted of the pool, sauna and 1 outdoor shower. Showering one at a time and out in the elements was an unique experience. It remained our only shower until the new ones were built in 1992 for the convention. Remnants of the shower can still be seen, where the cement pad is, on the way to the sauna. The mural painted in that area is believed to be painted by Petra. John and Petra eventually moved to Australia but were one of the couples in the early days who found great pleasure at Helios and used the campground in all kinds of weather. According to what I have been told, they even spent Christmases there. The sauna, back in the good old days was used all the time. Rosie and Bill seemed to be the self appointed fire starters. The sauna was well used especially in the cooler weather. Rosie and Bill were the ones who enjoyed the sauna the most and you could depend on a sauna going on the weekend. Rosie had on occasion taken a sauna and then made snow angels on the ice of the pool.
I am not too sure just when the hot tub came into existence in August 1985, but it was always a work in progress.
At the time it was built, it was square, with a bench about half way down on all four sides and since it was “home made” it was made of Fiberglas. It had been known to hold up to 25 people at one time. Unfortunately every spring it needed to be sanded and re-fiberglass. Bill and Craig were the main ones who volunteered for this job. We are not sure if they really loved the job or enjoyed the “high” they received from the fumes. The hot tub was replaced about 5 years ago (1998) thanks to Ron, who got “a good deal”. Robin started working every year on the swimming pool, about the first of May to have it up and running for the May long weekend.
Fire Pit
The fire pit area was first situated by the Kid’s Pad in the middle of a clearing, then moved south of Perry & Darlene's site, then by the old clubhouse and then finally at the last location which is called Piggy's Place. The community fireplace had many great fires, conversations and was ideal for gatherings. In the evening on weekends everyone would wander down, first one there started the fire; it made it easy for newcomers because it was a community thing. And everyone felt welcome. I can still see Larry and his guitar. Have you wondered how Piggy’s Place got its name? For years, we used to have Pig Roasts and we had a contest as to what we should name the area and Richard and Val B. came up with the name "Piggy's Place” Because Richard named it, it was only fair that he was responsible for making the sign. He had one of his dyslexic moments but the sign does bring a smile to everyone’s face when they see it.
Power
Members, who wished to have their own spot, cleared it an then put their camping units on them.
The grounds were rustic, the roads were rustic, and many a spring the road from the gate was closed until it dried up. The electricity was enough to give an electrician a heart attach. The power basically went from the house to the clubhouse to the pool. From the clubhouse, by extension cord it, it went to the sites on the left side of the road as you came in and to Piggy’s Place. From the pool area it went down the hill, under the grass, to the sites on the left-hand side of that road. The power went from the back of the pool area to our cabin, which was a sub station, it had a breaker box with 4 – 15 amp circuits; Craig and Mitch’s, the cabin across from us, Stuart and Terry’s and ours each received one circuit. This system provided a little power to everyone; like lights and maybe one or two appliances as long as they were not running at the same time. There was a lot of discussion on this and who was using what etc. This worked adequately until one Sunday afternoon; smoke was coming from the grass in the sunning area. Nothing serious, just a loose connection. Eventually we all got power, the proper way.
Cabins
By 1985, the only cabins in existence were ours, the one across from us (called the Fotomat owned then by Sharon an Bruce), Stuart and Terry (owned then by Steve and Donna), Darlene and Perry’s and the one owned now by Alexis and Elena (Cyril and Annette) which is on the hill by Piggy’s Place. There was also a cabin, which Ciaran now owns. This cabin had a unique shape and must have been designed by a visionary. It was owned by a couple who moved to Calgary then sold it. Because there was a halt at the time to building, the new couple had to build on the existing structure. Somewhere in that cabin is some of the material taken from the original cabin but other than that there is no similarity.
Winter activities included swims at an Edmonton pool, house parties for special occasions like Halloween and New Years Eve.
What is amazing about all of this is the amount of people that we know of that have tried the nudist lifestyle. We have seen people from all walks of life, priests (at least 3, that I know of, a pastor and his family, doctors and lawyers and teachers and all sorts of white collar, blue collar and no collar workers. Helios membership probably did not hit the 100 mark during the 1979 to 1990 period, a lot of work was done and a lot of time was spent to make the grounds a place where people liked to go. In a sense it had a family spirit to it, as we were all in agreement that enjoying our recreation without clothes in a place where value was put on the family aspect of Social Nudism made this experience one that is hard to forget.
In 1990, the membership was called to a special meeting to advise them that the grounds were up for sale. Up until that time Lori and Robin had been the proprietors of the club. According to the ASA (AANR) Clubs at that time consisted of member operated or proprietor clubs. Helios did not own the land and only had the agreement that was written in 1979. This meant that Robin and Lori were making all the decisions, interviewing prospective members, planning ads and activities, settling disagreements and this was no easy task but our thanks go out to them for all the hard work that they did and for keeping Helios going.
At this time a board was formed and we were lucky that Dennis and Theresa (members of the Helios) came forward with an offer that was accepted to buy the land. That meant that the land would still be there, a board of elected officers would be running the club and Helios was safe for awhile. Dennis and Theresa had positions on the Board.
Being on the Board of Helios is a wondrous thing and the highest form of congratulations goes to each and every person who has served on the Board for the duration of their term. I am sure that each person has the best interest of the club in mind and because they feel that they can contribute to this life style that they enjoy so much. It is not an easy job when one considers it is voluntary.
And so we move on, Part 4 in the next Barer.
Thus begins the 4th and final part of the History of Helios
The early 1990’s brought many changes to Helios, it became a club that was operated by the members, which now meant that the Board was responsible to the membership for keeping everything running smoothly and paying all the bills. The land was stilled owned by Dennis and Theresa. Somewhere along the way, it was decided that it was about time for Helios to hold a WCSA (WCANR) convention. So in 1992, Helios hosted their very first WCSA Convention. Robin was chairman of the convention committee and the members went to work to get the grounds ready for this big event. The Nature Trail had already been cleared and ready for use by Walter and Dorothy. They had been to a convention at Sunny Chinooks and they had admired their nature trail and developed Helios’s on the northern and eastern perimeter of the grounds. We had some help from TENS (The Edmonton Nudist Society). The grounds had to have certain amenities which involved a lot of hard work. A big tent was put in the Field of Dreams. The Field of Dreams was well under way to being cleared and drained and replanted to grass. Saskatchewan Meadows was cleared with the idea that we would put camping guests there. Although it was not called Saskatchewan Meadows then, the name arrived after the convention. At most conventions, members from each club had their own area, and it just so happened that the people from Saskatchewan were delegated to the meadows. After the convention, they presented Helios with the sign for Saskatchewan Meadows, their way of naming that area. Richard looked after installing the hot and cold showers off of the Aqua Center, Jerry saw to it that the volley ball court had good clean sand on it, until that time it had been a grass volley ball court. A badminton court was made, if anyone is wondering where it is, it is down behind Terry and John’s on the way to Richard and Val’s. Rollie and Yvonne from TENS looked after building us 10 outhouses, the ladies of Helios spent one, warm spring day painting these structures, Marlies painted the “suns” on them. Everyone had one or more jobs to do, food, entertainment, sports, security, cleanup and the many numerous tasks involved. One would be remiss if I did not mention the kitchen. 3 meals a day had to be provided to conventioneers. Kaye was in charge of this task. She decided that she needed a kitchen trailer, which she had hauled in and put by the big tent. This unit was designed for the preparation and the serving of the meals. It later became known as Kaye’s folly and what a problem it was to remove it to the parking lot for it to be picked up. All in all, we had a great convention, about 235 people registered, the weather was beautiful, one little tiny bit of rain on the Thursday night and glorious sunshine all day long for the rest of the convention. Thanks to the many hard workers who prepared and executed their tasks to make that August long weekend a wonderful experience. Nevertheless, as some of us sat around at Kaye’s having coffee that Monday afternoon, as the last of the camping units pulled out we swore, never again to do that. Two weeks later it snowed. Four years later, we had another convention and a Jamboree in 1999.
In 1992, the existing Board brought the By-laws up to date, and with acceptance by the membership filed them and a name change with the government. Helios’s official name then became Helios Nudist Association. Helios went from Helios Edmonton to Helios 1398 to Helios Nudist Association. Where did Helios come from? Well is seems that is a Greek word and Helios was an ancient sun god believed to ride his golden chariot across the heavens daily, giving light to gods and men. At evening, he sank into the western ocean and was carried in a golden cup back to his palace in the east.
In 1994, once again the land that Helios is on, was up for sale. It is always very traumatic when this happens as no one knows for sure just who will buy the land and what will become of the club. With a lot of hard work by the Board especially Susan, Jerry and Maureen the idea emerged that the Membership would buy the land. With the approval of the membership and after searching out mortgage information, there then came the time for a down payment. The members of Helios once again came forward to assist in lending money to Helios. Every member contributed some money for the down payment. The offer was made and accepted and effective June 1, 1994, Helios owned their own land. A few years later the members who had so graciously gave to the down payment fund were refunded their money. With Helios now owning the land, it was felt by many that it was now a business and should be ran as such.
About the same time, the membership agreed that we need “real” power, not just the extension cord variety. Electricity for awhile became a four letter word and there were many heated debates over it. Everyone wanted power. So Jerry was left to find a solution for this much needed resource. Trans Alta agreed that if we had ‘x’ number of members sign up they would be able to do it for us. After paying basically for our own power poles, those who signed up were given enough power to operate their camping facility. To this date we still need more power to facilitate all those who wish to have it and the cost to each individual is much higher now than it was back then.
In 1995, the by-laws were re-written with input from a lawyer and accepted by the membership and approved by the province on June 30, 1995. At this time the policy’s were also written. In my opinion the Policy’s were a good plan as it seemed to me that each new Board was faced with making decisions and unless they had lots of time on their hands and could check previous minutes of board meetings were sometimes at a loss. A 5 Year Business Plan was written up, thanks to Heather and John R and a committee made up of members .In the year 2000 all the objectives of that business plan were achieved.
Somewhere about this time Helios applied to AANR to be considered for the Glen Miller Fund. This was a $5000.00 interest free loan available to clubs. We were fortunate to receive it and used the money to put natural gas into the Aqua Center.
In 1996, it was once again time to hold another WCANR convention. We already had the necessary things from the first convention, such as showers, volleyball and badminton courts and hopefully experiences. The chairman of this convention was Ian. The tent was erected in the field again and as it turned out was the things that really saved this convention. Lori and Robins cabin was being built and after they donated it for the kitchen, the members quickly put on a roof and the structure served us well. Everything was well organized and once again everyone worked very hard to get ready, of course the only things we did not have control over was the weather. This convention probably went down in history as the wettest one ever. It not only rained but it poured. Everyone and everything remained very damp that weekend. Some campers had to be found other accommodations because their tents were drowned out, but again the membership came to the rescue and places were found to keep people semi dry. There were enough breaks in the weather to play volleyball and other sports; the tent was always packed day and night with people, although the floor was very wet. A mini river started to run through the Field of Dreams and made for interesting tug of war games. All in all it was a very interesting, wet and muddy convention and everyone enjoyed themselves and most important we actually made some money.
Helios was always intended to be a rustic campground, a place to escape to and enjoy all the wonderful things that nature has to prove, the bird and the bugs and the 4 legged wild life, the stars at night and the sun during the day. Many things have changed over the years, the fence around the Aqua Center was changed and if you notice there are names etched into the top wood railing. This was a fund raising effort, anyone that wanted his or her name there paid $2.00 each. A new Notice Board was installed at the parking lot, thanks to Richard and everyone who gave him a hand. Before that notices were put in the hot tub area. The Helios sign in the parking lot was designed and built by Ron and Karen. Marlies was the one who cleaned up the flower beds. The sign in the sunning area listing the members and how long they have been members was installed by the Membership Committee and built by Doug P. Doug P. Also built the base to our new hot tub. The Kid’s Pad was built. Piggy’s Place was cleaned up. Each member who had a lot was responsible for improvement on that lot, always keeping in mind to get Board approval. Richard was chief contractor of the Minnesota Mound.
In 1999, Helios was celebrating their 35th Anniversary, with John R chairing, we called it the Jamboree. We were not affiliated with AANR or WCANR at this time but offered the use of the camp to WCANR for their convention. This was not as taxing on the members as the 2 previous conventions, their were not meals to prepare, Once again everyone had a good time and the weather was very nice.
Keeping with the family orientated theme of Helios, we are thankful for all the children that have been and are at the club. One guest told me that one of the reasons that they like to come to Helios, was the children. They said that they thought that we had the most children of all the clubs that they visited. Thanks goes out to Darlene for keeping the kids busy and especially to Ray Jay and his bottle drives. When the dreaded call on Sunday at noon of “bottles” came, the Kids of Helios went about their task of collecting bottles from the sites and sorting them. Ray Jay always seemed to have a treat for them after this job was done. The money earned from bottle collecting belonged to the children and they have spent it wisely, they have a new stereo system and it was their idea to build the “kids pad”. They supplied the money and the members worked hard to make their dream come true. .
The Aqua Center is one of the most important things that attract people to our club. Thanks to Robin, Ron C, Bob and Paul, who over the years have kept the Aqua Center running smoothly.
From a members point of view, the last few years everything has been running smoothly, everything is looking nice, an office building has been placed in the parking lot and was much needed. Richard found and with the wonderful generosity of Jim, we now have a safe, warm and beautiful clubhouse. Helios grounds belong to all of us, our little piece of heaven, where we can practice social nudism.
These are the things that I love so much about Helios. I appreciate and enjoyed the many activities the club has. Mitch’s Garbage Can Turkey, Rick and Val’s Fish Fry, the Lobster Fests, the campfires, the sing a longs, Rick and Val and Mo and John’s 25th Anniversary Parties, the swims in winter that Lee arranges, Mitch’s Games Night, the many members who opened their homes for winter activities, the wonderful pot lucks, the Winter Fest, the Halloween Party’s on the grounds, the pig roasts, the member appreciation day, the Klondike Breakfast, the auctions, the willingness of all the members to help out when something needs to be done, the friendliness of everyone.
40 Years have passed and Helios is still here, through good times and the not so good times, we have stood on our naked feet and have enjoyed the opportunity to have a place where we can practice our belief that social nudism is good for us, our children, our grandchildren and many generations to come..
These are my thoughts and my remembrances and if I have left anything out it was not intentional.
Shirley S.
Happy 40th Anniversary
Celebration day - Saturday , July 10, 2004
Contact the WEBMASTER to add your memories of Helios Nudist Associations past.
