Projo Offbeat Blog

Up in Maine, a restaurant owner has taken a big risk in offering a free meal to anyone who will skinny dip in a nearby lake.

Leigh Turner, owner of The Black Frog restaurant in Greenville, risks losing money giving away free food, but he also risks ruining the appetites of his other diners, because the people most eager to take off their clothes in public are always the ones we're least eager to see take off their clothes.

In other words, don't drive up to Turner's restaurant expecting to see Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen jumping off the end of the restaurant's dock into Moosehead Lake. Sure, they can afford to pay for their own lunches, but, more importantly, they'd be violating an established rule of human nature.

Even without Brady and Bundchen, Turner's promotion has generated lots of attention. Much of it has come after a recent complaint. Turner says its the first time he can recall anyone complaining in the three years that the restaurant has offered skinny dippers a free Skinny Dip, which is sliced prime rib on a baguette roll.

The complaint surfaced when Greenville's selectmen reviewed Turner's request for a liquor license renewal. (Don't you have to offer liquor if you expect people to swim naked in front of the lunch crowd?) The Bangor Daily News picked up on the issue, so did the Associated Press, and soon Turner was receiving interview requests from across the country. The British Broadcasting Corporation even called after sniffing out another story about those quirky rebels from across the pond.

But don't go to the Black Frog Restaurant expecting to find a stripper's pole by the bar. Turner says he takes steps to ensure that the promotion doesn't run afoul of the law or ruin his customers' appetites. Restaurant patrons get only a brief glimpse of the skinny dipper's behind as he or she jumps from the end of the restaurant's dock, according to the Associated Press. And dippers are given a towel when they climb from the water.

The water temperature also helps. Two to three people -- mostly guys, of course -- take the challenge each week during the summer, when the water in Moosehead Lake is probably about the same temperature as it is off Scarborough Beach in February. Turner told the Bangor Daily News, "Considering the normal temperature of Moosehead Lake, there’s not much visible that’s shocking."

I just wonder how many of those free meals are ruined when the guys feel compelled to explain George Costanza-like the drawbacks of shrinkage.

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