With the coming of July in Northern California, a bear's thoughts turn to Lazy Bear
Weekend. Lazy Bear was originally (and still is) planned and organized by Harry Lit of
Castrobear Presents.
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The main street of Guerneville
Four years ago he came up with the idea of a relaxing weekend for
bears in Guerneville, CA, free of contests, registration fees and bar-centered events.
It's a time to relax by the pool or the river and enjoy the company of other bears.
This year's weekend, July 15-19, was the largest yet and saw bears coming from as far away as
Europe!
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The main house at the Willows Resort
The resort town of Guerneville is located about an hour or so north of San Francisco on
the Russian River. The area is a wonderful blend of towering redwoods, mountains,
gay-friendly resorts and interesting shops and eateries. Having never been to Lazy
Bear Weekend, I was not sure what to expect as I arrived with friends on Friday
morning. I had heard many wonderful things about the event so I was anxious to
experience it for myself. We arrived at the Willows Resort and checked in. The
Willows, like many of the other gay-friendly resorts in Guerneville, has rooms for rent
as well as ample camping. We had planned to camp and it was a good thing as I found
out that most of the rooms/cabins in the town sell out months before Lazy Bear
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Enjoying the campsite at the Willows Resort
Weekend! Soon after we arrived and set up our tents on a green grassy lawn under
several large willow trees (hence the name of the resort), the area filled up with
bears. There was soon a small city of interesting tents tiny to large, simple to
fabulously decorated. The Willows Resort was also home base for the Sacramento Valley
Bears and their famous cook-outs. We of course took part in that!! Yum.
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Bookstore display with large stuffed Teddy, complete with nipple ring
Anxious to see the town, we left our tents and walked down the main
street. Clearly Lazy Bear Weekend brings a few dollars into the local
economy and many of the shop owners had bear themes adorning their front windows. We
were not the only bears out and many of the early arrivals were doing the same thing
we were. It was great to see fur on every corner! After a coffee and more sightseeing,
we eventually made it to Fife's Resort and found many of the guys lounging poolside.
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Lounging poolside
With a two story tiered deck overlooking the pool, the views were quite nice. However,
it was getting late and we were ready to get back to our camp in time for a quick
float on the river and then dinner.
There were several events scheduled that evening
at the various resorts and bars including dancing and "Bear-oke". While tempting, many
of us decided to stay at camp that evening enjoying the company, cool coastal air and
numerous frosty drinks.
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Walking through the grounds reminded me of some medieval camp
complete with furry faced bears, dimly lit tents with "interesting" noises from
inside, and burning torches. OK, they were tiki torches, but let me live my fantasy.
It was a very different experience than one gets at a bear weekend in a big city.
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Early arrivals at the pool party
Saturday started with a great breakfast served up by the Willows and then an early
departure for the Russian River Resort's pool. Even though the pool party didn't start
for another few hours and it was still overcast and cool, we were told that poolside
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The numbers swell!
seating disappears quickly. The rumors were true and we ended up getting the last few
poolside chairs. Just as the sun appeared and the temperatures soared, the area
quickly began to fill with bears. There was a five dollar entrance fee (a little extra
if you wanted to partake in the beverage benefit) for the day and the money raised
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Bear and SPEEDO?
went to worthy causes in Sonoma and San Francisco counties. Comedian Danny Williams
also entertained the crowds with commentary between raffle ticket drawings throughout
the day. As the name of the weekend implies, most of the bears did little more than
enjoy the sun, water and company! We did finally manage to drag ourselves away from
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Jack Radcliffe makes an appearance
the fun at the RRR and stroll back over to Fife's to see what fun was happening at the
pool there. Do you sense a trend here?! But since it was getting late, we decided to
head back, shower and get ready for dinner.
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More fur...
After dinner and some champagne with friends (yes, they knew how to "rough" it in the
wild!) it was time for the evening's fun. We got a late start and left about 11pm for
town. There were crowds at all the night's hotspots, but seeing that it was getting
late we ambled down to the Bunkhouse at Fife's for the after-hours dance. The
Bunkhouse had a large bonfire burning in front and about 50 bears circled around it
for warmth. The music was loud and dance-oriented and made for some great viewing. But
after some time there and at the fire, it was time for the walk back to camp and some
rest.
Sunday began with the same cool overcast weather, which promised to burn off even
earlier. We had breakfast and hung around camp for a leisurely morning. Even though
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Awesome!
there was another day of pools, hikes in the woods, floats on the river and shopping
in the town left, our group had to leave early in order to make it back in time to
drop friends at the airport in San Jose. So we spent the morning saying our good-byes,
breaking down camp and packing the truck. It was sad leaving, but we all agreed that
it was a great two and a half days. I can not wait to join the other lazy bears at
next year's weekend!!
MSR
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