Culture
The beach is almost always occupied during spring through fall, with a large cast of regulars. During the summer, the beach is usually occupied by dozens of people at a time who come from all walks of life. It is not unusual to see upper middle-class neighbors, for example, conversing with the homeless; or to see bike-gang punks conversing with Rastas. The beach is also a meeting point for many hippies and travelers, such as "non-members" of the Rainbow Family and frequenters of Harmony Park in southern Minnesota.
The atmosphere is typically very friendly. Artists and musicians are frequently seen practicing their talents. Many beach goers participate in the game of "Rock Golf"--made popular largely due to the efforts of Larry D., a long time Hidden Beach regular and self-proclaimed "Beach Commander". For years it had not been uncommon to see dogs running loose without a leash, open alcohol containers, and occasional nudity and toplessness.
Another attraction at Hidden Beach is the mud pit, located on the eastern side of the beach, where visitors often jump in the mud and later rinse off in the lake. One of the most famous beach regulars is the "Mud Man", who greets beach goers ("Good afternoon!"), informs them of the status of the mud pit ("It's ready!"), and also keeps a count of the number of mud pit bathers for every day, week, month, and year. The Mud Man also clears the mud pit of foreign objects such as litter and sticks.
Beach-goers, especially regulars, often don special tie-dye t-shirts, which are made and given away for free by a long time regular known as Kevin. These distinctive tie-dye shirts often feature a lion family-crest type symbol, with or without a black star placed on each shoulder. Over 12,000 of these shirts have been given away at Hidden Beach.
The trails surrounding the beach are also popular walking paths, and connect up with the nearby Kenilworth Trail, one section of the paved Cedar Lake Trails.
The beach has long been a concern to the surrounding neighborhood because of the level of noise, illegal activity, and high level of traffic that it attracts. The level of safety is particularly a concern at night after the park has closed.
Read more about this topic: Hidden Beach
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“Unthinking people will often try to teach you how to do the things which you can do better than you can be taught to do them. If you are sure of all this, you can start to add to your value as a mother by learning the things that can be taught, for the best of our civilization and culture offers much that is of value, if you can take it without loss of what comes to you naturally.”
—D.W. Winnicott (20th century)
“We do not need to minimize the poverty of the ghetto or the suffering inflicted by whites on blacks in order to see that the increasingly dangerous and unpredictable conditions of middle- class life have given rise to similar strategies for survival. Indeed the attraction of black culture for disaffected whites suggests that black culture now speaks to a general condition.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
“With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan,—mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards; because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufacturers and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)