Friday 13 June 1997
Ottawa's Labatt HOPE volleyball tournament has planned extra security and sought public relations advice to cope with a possible twist to this year's event: topless volleyball.
"We're really being proactive in preparing for the issue to become a reality at our event," said HOPE executive director Jody Larose, who has also ordered more portable toilets to cope with the expected gaping crowds. "There's nothing we can do except prepare for more people, which is fine by us because that's certainly contributing to our fund-raising efforts."
HOPE -- short for Helping Other People Everywhere -- organizes what is billed as the world's largest beach volleyball tournament at Mooney's Bay each year. Last year, 1,000 teams and 20,000 spectators attended the event, raising $435,000 for charity.
The 15th annual Labatt HOPE beach tournament is slated for Saturday, July 12 -- the first tournament after Ottawa city council's decision last month to allow bare breasts on public beaches.
"We are the beach event in the city in the summer, so it's a natural question for people to ask," Ms. Larose said.
"There's lots of humour attached to how they're asking the questions, we've heard every pun imaginable: how do you plan on keeping everyone abreast of the situation? I'm sure it will be a titillating experience for all who attend this year."
Several teams have hinted at their intention to go topless by registering names such as the Six Topless Boobheads and the Six Topless Chicks, although more subtle names such as The Thrill Seekers also have organizers curious.
"It's just something that we're preparing for, but no one can really predict the outcome. There are possible crowd-control issues, and we've met with police on that, and we're ordering more infrastructure to support a larger crowd this year," said Ms. Larose.
"We have a good gauge as to how many people attend under regular conditions such as a nice sunny day."
And with topless volleyball? "We have no idea, but more," said Ms. Larose.
Jeff Polowin, senior vice-president of communications at Hill & Knowlton in Ottawa, has provided free public relations expertise to HOPE on the issue.
"The official strategy is more or less, excuse the pun, hands off. There is nothing they can do about it anyway, and there is nothing the police can do," Mr. Polowin said. "If you look at a situation where you have 1,000 teams, of six people on a team, that's a lot of young people. People do things in groups that they might not do as individuals -- and if it's a very hot day ... there is anticipation that, chances are, something will happen."