San Diego Leather Pride continues to grow and this year promises to be the biggest week of pride for the community yet.

Leather Pride Week gets underway this Sat., Feb. 28, with the highlight of the week expected to be the 20th Annual Mr. San Diego Leather Contest. The contest will take place at The Center on Sat., Mar. 6, starting at 7:00 p.m. On hand to judge the contest will be Mike Russell, International Leather Sir 2003, Eric Edelstein, Mr. North Coast Leather 2004, Karen Yew, Ms. San Diego Leather 2004, Stephen Blackwell, Mr. L.A. Leather 2003, Mark Holmes, Mr. San Diego Leather 1984 and Durk Dehner, foundation director for the Tom of Finland Foundation.

This year the Mr. San Diego Leather contest has returned to its roots with each of the major leather bars in the area hosting individual contests to select their candidate for the title. The Hole, Pec’s, Wolfs and The Eagle all participated by selecting their representatives at contests over the past few weeks. “Leather men and women go to many of the bars that have chosen to participate and we felt it important to acknowledge these bars for all they do for the leather community,”said Tom Dickerson, Mr. San Diego Leather 2002 and chairman of the 2004 Leather Pride committee.

This Sat., Feb. 28, the week gets started with the “Knights of Leather” contest at Wolfs. Other events for the week include a dance party at the Brass Rail on Sunday and “Dungeons & Drag”, a night of leather-themed drag performances at Bourbon Street on Monday.

Money raised through the week of Leather Pride will benefit the Mr. San Diego Leather Travel Fund and The Something Special Food Pantry.