Over 100 people participated in Vancouver’s 5th Annual “No Pants SkyTrain Ride” held Sunday. Passengers on the train reacted with giggles and gasps when the flash-mob pulled their pants down during the ride.
One confused woman who entered the train at the Chinatown/Main Street station was shocked and said some people weren’t wearing any pants. She did not know that Vancouver Improv Anywhere had organized the event.
The majority of the passengers tried to avoid eye contact and maintain their straight faces. Some passengers, however, took out their cellphones and began taking pictures.
One man was talking to a female friend of his, trying to get her into joining him in removing her pants.
The event was just one of many that happened throughout the world. It was motivated by a stunt a New York Improv group did in 2012.
Larry Piche, one organizer, said there was no real purpose by the event; just to generate some laughs. There’s no real reason to it, he said. Piche said the idea is to play around, standing tall and bring a smile to people’s faces.
The event participants got together at the Broadway-Commercial station, which is where Piche stated what the route was and talked about the ground rules – paying the fare and spreading out on the platform.
The majority of folks were not concerned about stripping down to their underwear in public.
31-year-old Zuzana Buchnerova said she’s from the Czech Republic and, in Prague, this goes on too. She and her boyfriend Alex Lang wanted to do it in Vancouver too.
Jamie Minnie, who’s a first-time pants dropper, said the weather didn’t bug her. She dressed like a female Robin and wore her headphones. Minnie said since everybody else was doing it, she had no problem herself.
Veteran public stripper AJ Kutchaw said he’s done the “Naked Bike Ride” and considers this event much easier. The 29-year-old was prepared, wearing more than one pair of underwear to stay warm.
Kutchaw said many people living in Vancouver are rather reserved. He said it’s hard to get engaged with folks. However, if there is a way to get them out of their shell, this is the chance to do it, Kutchaw said.
