Too Hot for the Water Park? The RFT Swimsuit Issue

Aug 1, 2013 at 4:00 am

Shore thang: Would this siren in a two-piece wreck your day at Raging Rivers? The Grafton water park reserves the right to eject customers dressed in “provocative” bathing suits. Steve Truesdell

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We tried. We wanted to bring Madelyn Sheaffer to St. Louis for an all-expenses-paid tour of our fabulous swimming pools and water parks. Of course, there would be a catch. The 43-year-old mother would have to bring along her famous bikini -- the revealing black-and-white one that got her kicked out of a water park in western Missouri. And she'd have to let us photograph her. That would be a given.

We wanted to answer the question: Was the full-figured Sheaffer also too hot for St. Louis water parks?

"Man, that would have been nice!" came Sheaffer's response. " But I am in Maui and intend to stay here. I know my swimsuit won't be a problem here!"

That's right, folks. The bod that garnered international headlines just weeks ago has busted out of the Show-Me State and moved to the islands.

"I've been a Missouri girl all my life," Sheaffer explains. "But there is a sort of oppression there that you don't find in a lot of parts of the world. To be kicked out of a water park for wearing a swimming suit? That is sort of a Midwestern thing."

Or is it?

With Sheaffer unable to assist us, we recruited the next best woman for the job — St. Louis model and dancer Rachel Gunn. Savvy RFT readers may recognize Gunn as the cover girl for our 2008 feature story on cougars (the female, not the feline, kind). We dressed up the ample Gunn in a half-dozen bikinis and dropped her in front of a few of the area's most popular summer oases -- Raging Rivers in Grafton, Illinois, Citygarden, Fenton's Springdale Park & Pool and the North Pointe Family Aquatic Center in Ballwin.

So whaddya say, St. Louis? Is this Gunn packing too much heat for the water park? Or is there such a thing?

But wait! There's more!

We want your pool pics! Send us images of you (or your friends) at the local pool, and we'll post 'em online with the question: "Too hot for the water park?" Winners of our male, female and couples competitions will win a fabulous prize (to be determined). E-mail your photos (at least 560 pixels wide) to [email protected].

See Also: Inside the RFT 2013 Swimsuit Issue