Sabian Warren

swarren@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE – A controversial downtown topless rally is changing locations this year to a site that some say will be even more visible to tourists and other visitors.

The Go Topless rally, in its fourth year in Asheville, is set for 1-3 p.m. Sunday at Pritchard Park in the heart of the downtown retail and dining scene and may also include a march by participants.

The event was held at Pack Square Park the previous three years but couldn't return there because the park was already reserved Sunday for Big Love Fest.

Topless rally organizers informed city officials of their plans but did not have to obtain a permit because such activities are protected under First Amendment rules, city spokeswoman Dawa Hitch said. Rally organizers have had to get a permit in the past, but only when they wanted to close roads and erect temporary structures.

Organizers have informed the city they are considering a march through the downtown but would stay on sidewalks, meaning no roads would be closed, Hitch said.

Merchants near Pritchard Park said they didn't know what to expect in terms of a business impact from groups of women baring their breasts. Downtown streets around the park typically are packed with visitors on Sunday afternoon.

Greg Meyer, merchandise director at Spiritex clothing store on Haywood Street across the street from park, said he didn't think his shop's sales would suffer, but he worried about visitors encountering a spectacle they weren't expecting.

"I don't think it's going to impact us," Meyer said. "But there will be a lot of families with children and tourists here. Pack Square doesn't have the restaurants and retail that we have here. With Pack Square, you kind of had to go there to see it."

Pritchard Park is close to several popular restaurants with outdoor seating, including Tupelo Honey Café. Tupelo Honey spokeswoman Elizabeth Sims said she didn't want to speculate on how customers might react to the sight of bare-chested women.

"That is a public park," Sims said. "It's a public space, so we don't have any control over what happens in that space."

The Asheville rally, organized by out-of-state activists of GoTopless.org, is among about 50 such events planned Sunday in cities across the U.S. and around the world on Go Topless Day, which is held annually on the Sunday that falls closest to Aug. 26, which is Women's Equality Day.

The local rallies have seen a decline in the number of participants and spectators. The first event in 2011 drew an estimated 2,000 people and featured several dozen topless women. The 2012 and 2013 events drew several hundred people, most of them male spectators with cameras, with about a dozen women baring their breasts.

Asheville rally spokeswoman LaDonna Allison, an actress and model from Atlanta, said the aim of the event is to promote women's equality. Her group maintains that laws and social stigmas against women being topless in public are unfair.

"What reason do they have for saying it's OK for a man but not for a woman?" Allison said. "I just want to be treated equally."

She said she didn't know how many women would participate, but she planned to arrive in Asheville several days in advance of Sunday to promote the event.

"I'm going to be handing out fliers," she said. "Hopefully, we'll have a good turnout."

Asheville City Council members have researched ways to stop the annual August rallies, but Mayor Esther Manheimer said the board's hands are tied because state law allows toplessness. In a 1970 court case, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled that female breasts were not "private parts" and therefore could not be considered indecent.

"State law allows it," said Manheimer, an attorney. "Cities in general are preempted from creating stronger criminal laws than what the state allows."

But she noted, "I think it's deeply disappointing that this group has targeted Asheville. I don't think it's an event that people here want. I would encourage everyone to stay away, since it just seems to be an attention-seeking effort."

Despite the 1970 ruling, a number of N.C. cities including Raleigh and Wilmington have local ordinances that prohibit women from exposing their breasts in public, ordinances that have been on the books for decades and have never been challenged.

Carl Mumpower, a former city councilman who's been an outspoken critic of the rallies, faulted current members of the board for allowing the events to continue.

"Clearly, they don't mind this stuff," Mumpower said. "Four years is enough time for anybody to find a point of action. In four years, you can build a bridge to anywhere. Clearly they haven't been trying."

He said topless participants have engaged in other activities besides baring their breasts, with children present.

"Our concern continues to be the sexual misconduct that goes on there and that everyone tries to pretend doesn't," Mumpower said. "It's against the law to fondle breasts and fondle their own breasts in a public park."

In past years, he and other opponents have operated a website, GoBrainless.org, dedicated to disrupting the rally, including sponsoring a photo contest aimed at getting proof of illegal activities. Mumpower said opponents haven't settled on a plan of action this year yet.

"We're putting our thinking caps on and trying to think of a constructive way to challenge their nonsense," he said.