5 minute read
BRIGHTON BEAR WEEKEND
THE BEARS ARE BACK!
After the lost year that was 2020 for major gatherings, Brighton Bear Weekend returns from July 22-25. Bear chair Graham Munday tells us what’s planned to raise money for the Brighton Rainbow Fund
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The writing was on the wall for Brighton Bear Weekend in February, when the assembled committee agreed that what was going on in Italy and France was going to hit the UK soon. And when it did, they also agreed that the lockdown wasn’t going to last for the three months that Boris Johnson had claimed.
“It’s a bit like how they claimed the war was going to be over by Christmas,” says Graham Munday, citing the oft-quoted popular British opinion of 1914. In fact, the end of the first 12 weeks would have been just in time for the Bear Weekend, but in common with festivals up and down the country, the decision had been made quite quickly to cancel the event in light of the pandemic.
From there the group went ahead with Mr Brighton Bear online – with Gavin Bennett winning the 2020 title to join 2019’s Taylor Leigh in the line-up of top bears to date – and managed to hold some online club nights, “then the rest of the year didn’t really happen”.
But this year it’s full steam ahead again for the fun-loving fundraisers, although the Brighton Bear Weekend is taking place at a later date than its originally hoped-for June 25, with the committee knowing it needed to push the date back and not wanting to clash with other community events such as Trans Pride and Brighton & Hove Pride, both of which have sadly had to be cancelled as physical events.
“That does make us the biggest LGBTQ+ event in Brighton this year,” says Graham, with a certain incredulity, and still keeping everything crossed that the so-called roadmap doesn’t go off the rails, to mix a metaphor.
But everything is fully planned for the big weekend – the marquee has been bought, licences from the council obtained, the police are onside and Graham and the rest of the team are “hoping that most people will be double vaccinated by then. A couple of weeks after the second vaccine, it’s as good as you get”.
The main event starts with a welcome party at the 500 people-capacity Dorset Gardens on the night of Friday, July 23, following the Thursday night quiz at the Camelford Arms, but there is still uncertainty around how many people might attend. “Are people going to decide never to go out again or are they going to go back to some semblance of what was beforehand?” asks Graham. “I don’t imagine there’s going to be a huge rush. Some people think there’s going to be some sort of explosion and everybody rushing out at once, but I think people will be a bit more timid about it.” And of course, the normal influx of European visitors won’t happen this year, while there is no knowing whether visitors from other UK countries will want to make the journey.
“Looking at the bars the footfall is still down on previous years and it hasn’t really picked up as yet. A lot of the bars aren’t doing so many cabaret nights so they are still hedging their bets. But we believe by the time it gets to the weekend of July 22 they will be up again,” adds Graham. “In previous years we have had between 15 and 17 events over the weekend, but this year we are bringing it all back again to just being a bit more basic.
The normal breakfast event on the Saturday morning won’t be happening this year, but from 12-6pm there will be lots of stalls in Dorset Gardens, plenty of acts throughout the day, the Gay Classic Car Club will be on site and Lunch Positive will be providing food to raise funds for its own important organisation. There is no entry fee for the Gardens but people will be asked to donate.
“Having our welcome party in the marquee in Dorset Gardens allows us to bring in more money for Brighton Rainbow Fund because we have the bar takings, and from there we are going to tease our Mr Brighton Bear contestants then the full Mr Brighton Bear competition we are having in the Amsterdam.”
In previous years, the weekend has raised between £10,000 and £12,000 for the Brighton Rainbow Fund, but takings are likely to be down in 2021 as the organisers feel it would be unfair to ask businesses for discounts when they have not been open for a year. So there will be no wristbands or big raffle, but volunteers will be bucketing and selling Brighton Bear merchandise to raise funds.
On Sunday there are roasts at the Amsterdam and Drag With No Name will be performing one of his last shows before retiring.
Already there’s a buzz around the weekend. Graham says: “There’s an anticipation and excitement about it – lots of people are asking what’s going on, when’s it happening. There’s always a thought in the back of my head that anything could go wrong, but I think politically Boris won’t want to go backwards and if there is another lockdown it will have to be sometime in September, but I don’t think that will happen.”
The long-term weather forecast gives cause for optimism too, so all things considered, it’s looking bright for a successful weekend where people will be able to mingle in a way they haven’t done for quite some time. And in further good news, there’ll be no app to wrestle with when you want to buy your drinks, and cash will be happily accepted – in fact, it will be preferred when it comes to making donations.
Mr Brighton Bear competition
So far there have been 12 entries for the contest, but Graham expects that may drop as people who have filled out the online entry “in the joys of alcohol may be not so keen in the light of a new day”. But for those brave enough to take to the stage there’s a plethora of goodies up for grabs. “The winner gets a lovely sash, a lovely crown made by Tom Bald, there’s prize money of £100 and the runner-up gets £25, and there’s a T-shirt, lanyard and other goodies, plus, the winner gets our love and admiration for a year. We just want people to have a good time and enjoy the night.” Voting this year takes place in the run-up to the big night online and again in person on the night, giving everyone a chance to vote twice for their favourite entrant. More details are available at www.brightonbearweekend.com
