Complaints prompt cover-up order

WINNIPEG (CP) - Winnipeg Folk Festival security ordered two topless women and one naked man to cover up Saturday or leave the site.

Complaints about the nudity were made to festival security, prompting the get-dressed-now order.

The people involved chose to put their clothes on instead of leaving.

"The people were very good about it," said festival security chief Larry Sellen.

Sellen said festival officials have no firm policy on public nudity, but the security crew's job is to try to address any complaints they receive.

The festival is in Birds Hill Provincial Park, northeast of Winnipeg. Park police have the authority under the Provincial Parks Act to charge people with causing a public disturbance, or evict them from the park, said Al Meyers, park police spokesman.

Meyers admitted the legality of toplessness is a grey area. But in the context of a festival attended by a large crowd, including children, it is bound to prompt complaints, he added.

A recent Ontario court decision ruled women have a legal right to appear topless in public.

"People walking around (undressed) in front of 3,000 or so people is just not appropriate," said Meyers.

On Friday, three women at the festival danced topless throughout a set.