Calgary’s cuddliest and furriest bears will invade the Montgomery Community Center for their annual “BearBash” celebration this October 1st. Formerly, known as Bearback Calgary, this year’s event celebrates the recent change of name.
“We recently changed our name to better distinguish our club by having a name that reflects the uniqueness of the area in which we live,” former president and current events coordinator Curtis told GayCalgary.com. “This year’s theme for Bearbash is our new name, Rocky Mountain Bears. In other words, it is a ‘Mountain Bear’ theme similar to previous years’ ‘Bears in the Woods’ theme, or ‘Lumberjack Bear’ theme. This year’s theme was chosen mostly, to get our new name out in the community.”
The event is a celebration of Calgary’s Bear community.
“Bearbash is our annual dance and bear competition. We encourage people from all facets of the community to attend. This year our dance is starting at 9 pm with the bear competition starting around 10:45 pm. This will be followed by food, because bears love food, and more dancing afterward. The bear competition consists of competitors showing how they look in different outfits, performing a task or two, and telling the audience a bit about themselves. Creativity is definitely one of the keys to doing well in the competition. Also, we found that it works well to have the audience decide on who they would like Mr. Bear Calgary to be, by voting.”
BearBash is the main event of a year filled with a number of social activities such as camp-outs, trips to waterslide parks, and day trips to Banff. Curtis explained how the club works and told us about some of the social activities that will take place.
“Rocky Mountain Bears is Calgary’s bear club. It is a social organization that is primarily geared toward gay men in the Calgary area. Our club, like many other bear clubs, was created to give the ‘average’ guy in the community a place to go for a variety of social events in an atmosphere that is relaxed and casual. All adult males are welcome; members range from 18 – 60 with the majority of the members in our group between 30 and 50. The traditional definition of bears is males who are hairy and somewhat stocky. Our club has guys of all shapes and sizes. Most have some facial hair. We have events that range from movie nights, to BBQs, to Banff trips, to an annual campout. Our monthly events are a bear bar night at the Eagle on the last Saturday of every month, and coffee night the first Monday of every month (except during the winter months) at Good Earth Cafe -1502 11 St. SW. Some of the events that we have planned over the next few months are bowling in November, our annual Christmas party and gift exchange in December (which is always very well attended), and a trip to Banff at the end of January.”
This group is always on the lookout for new members and encourages those who may be interested to check Rocky Mountain Bears out.
“The best way to get involved with the club is to contact us or, even better, come out to an event. You can contact us at events@rockymountainbears.com. Our Annual General Meeting is held in April so, if anyone is interested in running for one of our 7 executive positions they are welcome to run. The only qualification is that you need to be a member of the club. We are always looking for new ideas for the club and for people to come up with suggestions for new events. Our club currently has about 50 members. It is a very down to earth group in which many people have made very good friends and have had a lot of good times over the years. Come and check us out at this year’s Bearbash or another event.”
Rocky Mountain Bears presents: ”BearBash 2005”
Saturday October 1, 2005
Montgomery Community Centre
Tickets $13 at the door, $11 in advance at The Eagle
www.rockymountainbears.com
