Urban Bear Weekend is an annual gathering that takes place smack dab in the middle of Manhattan and showcases a ton of fantastic events with the bear and bear friendly community in mind. Whether it is dancing the night away, checking out some great vendors in the Meatpacking district (no pun intended), or seeing what makes this city so great, this super fun weekend has something for everybody.
This particular event is sort of Manhattan’s answer to Bear Week, as it is quite possibly the biggest bear festival of sorts year round. From Thursday until Sunday night, organizer Robert Valin and his amazing sponsors and hosts do an amazing job at putting together something fun, innovative and fresh for our community to participate in, and this year’s was no exception.
Starting on Thursday was where you would find Stache’ Bash at Julius Bar & Grill, where a ton of guys grubbed on some delicious beef while being surrounded by man beef (hehe). This continued on later in the night with their new party called Brutus, at Lower East Side mainstay Nowhere Bar, that featured beats by #Giant & DJ Lorant.
If dance is the name of your game, then Urban Bear Weekend had you covered. You had the chance to get down with a bunch of bears in nothing but their jockstraps & boxers at Rockbar’s Underbear Party. There was also The Urban Bear Ball event, otherwise known as Honey, hosted by Space Ibiza.
For the more scenic bear, in other words “daylight”, you had the multitude of options including Bears on Bikes, where you took a bike ride along Hudson River Park with a tasty picnic afterwards. There was also the Bear Invasion at The Whitney & The Highline for the more artsy and outdoorsy type folk. This all culminated with my personal favorite event, the Urban Bear NYC Street Fair, which took place on Little West 12th Street and highlighted a bunch of bear friendly vendors, great food, performances, and a fab meeting spot to hang with your other friends. Overall, another successful Urban Bear Weekend that i sincerely look forward to seeing what happens next year.
For more information on Urban Bear Weekend, check out their official site.