Naked in the Trees: Taumarunui to welcome festival with music and fun

A group shot from a party hosted by The Naked World. Photo / Stanley Hannington

By RNZ

A slice of the King Country will host hundreds of people for the Naked in the Trees festival in February.

Up to 800 people will converge on the Taumarunui site for what is described as a “unique celebration of desire, communication and exploration”.

The event is being run by Lisa McMillian, founder of Naked World. She has been running naked dinners and undie dinners for five years.

While Naked in the Trees was a festival “with a twist”, she told RNZ’s Nights that it was not a naturist event.

“It’s the only event I do which has got absolutely no dress code. You can be fully clothed; you can be in undie sort of attire. You can be in festival gear. You can be nude. It’s up to you.”

The location was breathtaking, she said.

“It’s 200 acres of horse training ground, and it’s absolutely stunning. We’ve got a river that runs through the middle. There’s a huge swimming spot, really deep. There’s a big waterfall.

“It’s kind of like a little dream space and because it’s so big, there aren’t any neighbours, so it was finally finding somewhere where we didn’t have noise restrictions.”

That privacy was needed as the organisers are bringing in some “pretty whompy” sound systems, she said.

Local and international acts would play on two stages and there were three zones for festival-goers to explore, she said - The Glade, The Playground and The Village.

The Village would have shops, tattoo parlours and workshops, care spaces, a bar and one of the stages, the Unity Stage.

The Playground had the Liberation Stage and the Pleasure Playground, she said.

McMillan was upfront about there being a sexual element to the festival.

“[Pleasure Playground is] a safe zone with a bunch of fun apparatus, toys, that you can have fun with.

“And it’s there for people just to also open up a conversation and just allow people to talk to one another and say, you know, this doesn’t have to be a taboo, closed conversation.”

Consent within this zone would be policed by “consent guardians” she said, and attendees will have to prove they have understood the etiquette by answering questions about the rules, or be members, in which case they had been pre-vetted.

The Pleasure Playground at Naked in the Trees had two sections.

“The first one is a more sensual-driven area, and then the second one is kink-driven, and kink requires another level of understanding.

“We break it down into bite-sized bits of understanding for each guest.”

The festival was not all about sex, she said.

“If you were to come to the festival, you don’t have to come with the expectation that you’re going to do anything. Maybe just listen to music, maybe just chat to a few people and go to a workshop. That’s all you have to do.

“It’s just enjoying the landscape. I mean, really, or just go for a swim, it’s up to you, just do everything at your own pace.”

Naked in the Trees runs from February 14-16.

- RNZ