There are popular Bear events all over the world and now Fort Lauderdale is about to get one! The first ever BeachBear Weekend will hit Fort Lauderdale Beach on May 10-14 and is already attracting bears from all over the world to our neck of the woods.
There are popular Bear events all over the world and now Fort Lauderdale is about to get one! The first ever BeachBear Weekend will hit Fort Lauderdale Beach on May 10-14 and is already attracting bears from all over the world to our neck of the woods.
BeachBear Weekend was created by Bob Young, Chad Bush and Shannon Spotts. Young has previous experience runing a big Bear event – he was a founder of LazyBear Weekend at the Russian River in Northern California.
“Fort Lauderdale is such a naturally beautiful place for an event like this,” explained Young. “We started LazyBear Weekend in response to flooding that hit the Russian River. We didn’t know if our community could come back, but LazyBear really helped the economy recover there. BeachBear could have a really significant impact here in Greater Fort Lauderdale.”
The event will benefit local charities, including Sunserve, a local charity that recognizes the entire LGBTQ community has the right to quality care. Their mission is to provide critical life assistance and professional mental health services with an emphasis on the economically disadvantaged, marginalized youths, and senior adults in Greater Fort Lauderdale.
“I wanted to raise money for a local group that had a wide appeal,” said Young. “They have HIV and youth services and their anti-bullying campaign has been huge.”
Money raised will also go to Abandoned Pet Rescue, Broward’s largest no kill animal shelter.
“We felt it was important to create a hot event and hope it grows into something that brings fun to our beaches and helps our charities year round,” said Young. “The Bear community has a long history of doing just that.”
Fort Lauderdale is known for its large Bear community, and also for being an amazing party place.
“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to have an event here,” said Bush. “There are great DJs and party promoters… you don’t have to fly people down… we’re party central for the East Coast.”
“For the whole world,” Young added.
“We’re a built-in party city,” Bush said.
The event is the perfect opportunity to show everyone what our great city has to offer.
It was created to showcase the healthy outdoor lifestyle enjoyed in Greater Fort Lauderdale. The events over the course of those days will focus on the beach, surf, exercise, and hot parties at local bars and venues including Ramrod, Boom, Wilton Bier Garden, The Depot Cabaña Bar and Grill, with more to be announced. In addition to the pool parties and bar nights, there will be alternative activities including sunrise meditations on the beach, personal trainers leading fitness classes, and watersports. A boat excursion and a vendor fair is also being planned.
In addition, instead of scheduling one sit down meal at one local restaurant, the BeachBear creators have planned a Food Crawl where attendees can hit every single restaurant down Wilton Drive.
The event is very unique in that it’s going to be very “free-style,” said Young. People can participate in whatever events they want—they are all included in the event price—and then can meet up at the host hotel, Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Beach.
“It’s set up similar to a cruise,” he said.
Young is very excited about the hotel and its amazing beach location. When he approached Steve Zunt, Senior Sales Manager at Courtyard by Marriott, he was even more motivated because Zunt really understood his vision and welcomed the idea.
“I think it’s going to be a great event,” Zunt said.
Young said that he was very pleased to get the Courtyard by Marriott as the host hotel and hopes to see it out.
“Getting a place like this… it’s going to be a huge draw,” he said. “It’s going to anchor the event.”
Although the event centers around Bears from all over coming together and having a great time, the creators of BeachBear Weekend said that they don’t want the main goal forgotten.
“The point of this is to help Fort Lauderdale,” said Bush. “The gay community is supposed to help each other out.”
Reserve your space now at BeachBearWeekend.com
BeachBear Weekend
May 10 to 14
Courtyard by Marriott
440 Seabreeze Blvd., Fort Lauderdale Beach
BeachBearWeekend.com
