How It Started (2008)
Go Topless Day® was born in April 2008 from a happy accident. Norman and Jean Wnuk... founders of AllThingsJeep.com, an online Jeep gift store in central Massachusetts... were visited by a newspaper ad saleswoman who happened to also be writing a "Happenings Around Boston This Spring" feature. Did they have a springtime happening? They did not. But if it meant free publicity, they were going to invent one.
After a brutal New England winter, the Wnuks decided to celebrate what every Jeeper looks forward to: the first warm day you rip the top off. They picked a date... May 3, 2008... booked a farm stand parking lot in Lancaster, MA, designed a logo, printed t-shirts, and promised they'd cut the top off a Jeep Cherokee XJ live at the event. The newspaper never actually ran the listing. But by then, the Jeep community had already caught wind.
The First Go Topless Day... May 3, 2008
About 65 Jeeps showed up at the farm stand in Lancaster that day, but the event had already outgrown its origins. Over 50 Jeep clubs around the world held their own celebrations. The first topless Jeep of the day belonged to Herman van Niekerk in Cape Town, South Africa, eight time zones ahead of New England. In North Dakota, there were two feet of snow the day before. They still went topless. AllThingsJeep ran a photo contest with prizes for the best entries, and Go Topless Day was officially on the map.
From Farm Stand to Global Phenomenon
By year two, the Lancaster event had a DJ, ice cream vendors, off-road trails, and RTI ramps. By 2012, over 100 clubs across five continents were participating in Go Topless Day. The format was wide open... trail runs, beach cruises, parades, trail cleanups, show-and-shines, poker runs, charity fundraisers... whatever each local club wanted to make of it. The third Saturday in May became the unofficial start of summer for Jeepers worldwide.
The Corporate Sponsorship Era (Late 2010s – Present)
In the late 2010s, ExtremeTerrain (Turn 5, Inc.)... one of the largest Jeep aftermarket retailers in the U.S.... stepped in as the official corporate sponsor of Go Topless Day and brought serious scale and charitable structure to the event. The sponsor introduced a $500 charity match: any event that raised at least $500 for a registered 501(c)(3) charity would receive a matching $500 donation. That commitment transformed Go Topless Day from a celebration into a fundraising engine. By 2023, Barricade Off-Road... part of the ExtremeTerrain family of brands... had taken over as the lead sponsor, and the official event is now known as Barricade Go Topless Day®.
2026... The 19th Annual Go Topless Day
What started with a few dozen Jeeps in a Massachusetts farm stand parking lot has become the largest coordinated Jeep event in the world. In 2025, approximately 500 Go Topless Day events across all 50 states and 7 countries put 63,000+ Jeeps on the road, raising $417,000 for charity in a single day. Total charitable contributions through the official sponsorship program have surpassed $1.4 million... supporting organizations like Alex's Lemonade Stand, Wounded Warrior Project, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and hundreds of local causes.
The 19th annual Go Topless Day takes place on Saturday, May 16, 2026. To register your event with the official sponsor and access event kits, discounted t-shirts, and the $500 charity match, visit the official Go Topless Day® page at ExtremeTerrain.com. To also add your event to this community directory, see below.