Get ready for BearQuake 2010! I don’t know if that means they’ll be shaking, rocking or rolling but the Southern California Bear Club Alliance wants to welcome all their hirsute brothers, their chasers and maybe a few sisters to San Diego for “Cirque De L’Ours” on the weekend of October 14-17. This means you have approximately three weeks to grow your beard, chest and back hair so you too can be “without the trappings”. Bear events are still some of my favorites because of the names they come up with (bears can insert the word “bear” anyplace and have a jolly good time) and more importantly because there is food, everywhere!

“Cirque De L’Ours” is hosted by Bears San Diego and Bears LA so you can expect San Diego to be filled with happy, horny and sometimes hungry, hairy men. BearQuake grew out of an idea of forming an alliance between the various clubs in Southern California and elsewhere. It’s a beautiful thing to see clubs of various cities come together to form a successful weekend and the bears love to come together. Unlike leather weekends, bear weekends tend to be much more relaxed as bears don’t have to follow protocols and colored hankies in order to know what they are supposed to be doing and who they’re supposed to be doing it too. Bears just do any bear that’ll do it back. And sometimes you don’t even have to do it back. It does tend to get confusing when you have to figure out what type of bear you are or if you are a bear at all. You may be a cub, otter, wolf, fox or panda (Asian bears are now called “pandas” if you didn’t get that memo). They now even have “chicken bears” which are very young bears that don’t consider themselves to be cubs. Just have some hair someplace on your body and growl or “woof” every now and then and you’ll fit right in with the bears no matter what animal you may be.

BearQuake 2010 is a weekend where all the animals and their chasers with buckets of gravy can come together and get to know one another a bit better. The first night, October 14th, will include a kickoff dinner and bar night at the Redwing Bar & Grill. See, told you there would be food! Registration begins for the weekend on Friday, October 15th at the host hotel The Lafayette Hotel and Suites on El Cajon Blvd. Be sure to ask for the “Bears of San Diego” rate for the rooms that include complimentary hot breakfast, free parking and an Olympic size swimming pool for the otters. BearQuake 2010 also includes some optional day time events from 1:00-6:00p.m. such as a Tour of the Maritime Museum, Shopping at Sea Port Village, Tour of Cabrillo National Monument and Lighthouse or Embarcadero – Star of India, Midway and Harbor Cruises. Later that night there is a Meet N Greet at Pecs Bar. No food is mentioned but I’m sure there had better be some grilling going on or you’ll have hungry bears and there’s nothing worse than a hungry bear.

The next day is the private barbeque and pool party from noon until 4:00 p.m. followed by a VIP Reception at Rich’s beginning at 5:30 p.m. Finally we get to the Mr. SoCal Bear and Cub Contest also at Rich’s beginning at 6:30p.m. There the contestants will compete in “bear wear”, a fantasy in “bear minimum” and “bear cruise wear”. The winner of the contest will represent the furry folks at IBR (International Bear Rendezvous) in San Francisco next February. Following the contest is the daddy of the bear dances “LLBEAR” at Rich’s. This is the part where the “quake” really comes into play.

After a night of shaking and sweating there’s a brunch at Mo’s beginning at 10:00 a.m. and ending at noon. I’d get there at 10:00 a.m. if I were you. At 1:00 p.m. there is bingo with the Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence – Asylum of the Tortured Heart because Sisters love to do bingo for some reason. Of course later that day all the bears will be at the Hole with a Farewell Dinner at Brian’s. Packages and more information can be found on the Bears San Diego website www.bearssd.org. Hope to see you there and be sure to grrrrrrrrrrrowl!