PILOT MOUND, MAN. -- Fourteen men in a southern Manitoba town have shown their community spirit by daring to bare it all for a new community calendar to raise money for their local recreation complex.
The 2020 edition of the Pilot Mound Community Calendar, which features photos of the men posing topless for the camera, is the second such calendar to come out of the community. The first one was released in Oct. 2015.
“We dared to do it again,” said Ginger Collins, chairperson of the fundraising committee for the Pilot Mound Millennium Recreation Complex. “We’re just trying to bring the focus that the fellows, 55 to 90 plus, have done this for the community.”
Local photographer Greg Currie volunteered to snap pictures of the unclothed calendar boys, capturing an eclectic mix of playful poses.
Currie photographed one of the men, Desmond Gould, with nothing but a fishing rod, net, tackle box and hat. Another features farmer Robert Cavers posing unclothed with a guitar beside a golf bag. Brad Wallace took a seat on a toy tractor with a wheat field in the background.
The money raised will help the community pay down debt and make upgrades to the Pilot Mound Millennium Recreation Complex.
The community sold 1200 copies of the 2016 calendar and brought in $20,000 for the complex.
“Which is huge for a small fundraising group,” said Collins. “Every little bit helps.”
A community auction recently raised $80,000 for the complex.
The money has helped the community upgrade the complex, which features skating and curling arenas; a movie theatre’s expected to open before the end of the year.
The community launched the second edition of the calendar Oct. 3 by hosting a roast beef supper at the recreation complex.
The calendars are $25 each or 5 for $100. Calendars can be mailed out.
They can be ordered by emailing Yvette Glen, Rhonda Burns or Ginger Collins.
