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Man goes pants-free for years

A TERRACE man hasn’t worn pants for more than 1000 days.

A TERRACE man hasn’t worn pants for more than 1000 days.

December 26th marked the 1000th consecutive day a man who works at the Terrace-Kitimat Regional Airport has said no to pants, opting instead for shorts – even in temperatures of 20 below freezing.

John Cormano is the owner of Avid Aviation, the company which has the contract to unload and load baggage and other material to and from aircraft.

It’s a job requiring him to spend a lot of time outdoors, but he’s stuck to his guns, denied his legs the warmth of pants on snowy winter days, and tanned from the knee down consistently in the summer sun.

It all started as a light-hearted competition with friends, said Cormano. Two of his work buddies had worn shorts right into December one year, and Cormano decided he would trump their efforts by going one year consecutively.

It started on April 1, 2009. And was supposed to end April 1, 2010 as a kind of April Fools’ Day gag, explained Cormano. But when the time came, he just couldn’t stop.

“It’s almost like if I put the pants on I’ll be disappointing somebody,” he said, adding that the same feeling has carried him through the years of opting for shorts instead.

Cormano has five pairs of shorts.

“The shorts are comfortable,” he said.

For the most part.

Some days, particularly days where temperatures drop far below freezing, Cormano will run from the warmth of the airport building only for as long as he has to  in order to do his work.

“One time I was on a ladder checking an ice intake,” he said. “My skin got stuck to the aluminum ladder.”

Cormano was pried free, saying he shook it off and got back to work, and got a good laugh from it.

“The Air Canada staff, they all think I’m nuts,” he said. “Even passengers. Some of them get a kick out of it, some of them want to give me a kick.”

When asked if he ever plans to have leg-wrapping fabric extend past his knees again, Cormano said he doesn’t know.

“There are definitely days I wonder why I’m doing it,” he said. “I don’t know if I want to wear pants again.”

To date, Cormano said it’s been a warm winter and he has no complaints.