Bears, Bikers and Mayhem returns with east coast’s largest open play space!

5th April 2021 Kyle Jackson

The pandemic put an abrupt stop to the 10th annual Bears, Bikers and Mayhem (BBM) in 2020, which was scheduled to happen in April a month after the country went into an unexpected year-long lockdown. But, now that vaccines are rolling out and things are returning to some sense of normalcy, the Bears and Bikers are back for all the Mayhem in 2021!

As the first and largest event in the U.S. to combine the Bear, Leather, Fetish, Motorcycle and Puppy communities, the 10th annual Bears, Bikers & Mayhem is sure to be a beary kinky good time! This year, BBM will take place from August 12 – 16 at the Eisenhower Inn & Aspire Conference Center in Gettysburg, PA. This year’s event will also feature a new addition — the largest open play space on the east coast!

In the past, BBM has featured separate spaces for both bear/leather/fetish dance parties and play related activities. This year, the producers decided to up the ante and combine dancing and play in one large space!

We spoke to event producer, Charles King, about the return of BBM.

Kyle Jackson: This marks BBM 10th anniversary celebration. But the actual 10th anniversary was last year. Can you talk a little bit about the cancelation and how it feels running such a large bear event for ten years?

Charles King: Well, we’re so happy to finally be coming back and so glad things are on the path back to normalcy. We were so sad that the 10th Anniversary Year had to be cancelled and postponed, but everyone is so excited to bring BBM 10 REDUX and we promise it will be well worth the wait. The one thing that we have all realized during the pandemic is that we all have priorities in our lives, and things like spending time with people are now more important than ever before. People are craving social gatherings and events. Tickets are selling better than ever before and we have expanded the event to be the biggest event in our history.

The past Ten Years of producing this event has been incredibly rewarding and the experience has changed my life in so many ways. We have enriched other non-profits along the way, helped start others up and helped fund over $250,000 since the inception of The Black & White Party, our Mother Organization that I founded in 2007. Bears Bikers and Mayhem has contributed the bulk of the monies that have gone to the incredible and deserving beneficiaries that we have vetted over the years.

I am privileged to be able to call BBM my Baby. I am privileged to have such an incredible staff and team of dedicated volunteers that make BBM happen each year.

KJ: What do you think differentiates BBM from some of the other large Bear events?

CK: Well, BBM is a very special event. We encommpass all of the male-identifying side of the gay leather, bear and fetish communities. We were the first to combine all of these in one entire event, and we are still proud today that each of these subcultures meet annually to learn and play together.

The other thing that differentiates us from other events is that we are technologically ahead of other events. We were the first to use an app for our event years ago, and the first to put our schedule in the hands of attendees on their smartphones, so they have a way to chat with each other. We then created our own smart card about 6 years ago, which has limitless features and uses. Guests can just scan their way into events with a special picture ID Card, and we can track where they go and what they do while attending our event to make it better year after year, and were about to launch a whole new piece of brand new tech this year.

I hesitate to say what it is yet because it’s not done and we haven’t tested it yet, but if you come to the event, you will certainly know what it is. We spent a lot of time and money developing our software, so were pretty proud of what we have accomplished.

We’re now farming out our software to other events, like the new Bear Week in Florida — “Bears Takeover Wilton”, coming Sept 1-6th. Our mantra has always been to “Give the Guest the Best Possible Experience”, and we always strive to do just that. We often ask ourselves, “What would Disney Do?”

KJ: Can you talk a bit about what we can look forward to on the BBM schedule this year?

CK: We extended BBM one more night of fun, and added extra events for more play time with the boys. We will be offering the largest adult play space on the East Coast, and the largest one in our history. It will be over 20, 000 Sq Feet, featuring multiple breakfast spaces, instead of just one. We are also now using the sports arena next to the hotel for the first year, to offer an amazing dinner show and brunch show. We are going BIG — Bigger, LONGER and UNCUT!

KJ: How does BBM restart after COVID-19?

CK: That’s a really good question. We had to do a lot of sitting, waiting, and following the science. We had to move our event date twice to make certain that everyone has the opportunity to get vaccinated before they attend.

Of course it’s everyone’s decision to get the vaccine, and we don’t feel comfortable asking for vaccine cards but we will be highly recommending that no one attend unless you have protection. This is still being worked out and debated with our exec staff, but we will do what’s best for all. We still have many months before the event, but we will have some sort of policy in place before the event.