Beautiful Nightmares: Recapping Spooky Bear 2024
Spooky Bear 2024 may have just been the biggest and best ever! The Northeast Ursamen put on a fantastic event filled with chills, thrills and fur as far as the eye could see!
From October 31st through November 3rd the NE Ursamen invited the bears to gather for one last hurrah in Provincetown before going into hibernation for the upcoming winter season. It was all the excitement of Bear Week in a condensed version with cooler temps and (slightly) less crowded streets. The last time I had attended the event was about 10 years ago and in that time Spooky Bear has grown immensely. The daily tea dances at Boatslip and the nightly parties at the Crown & Anchor were packed to summertime levels. It was amazing to see and a testament to the event the Ursamen have built up through the years.
The theme for this year’s Spooky Bear was “Nightmares” with the costume ball and contest taking place at the Crown on Saturday night and an additional ‘Heroes and Villains’ themed party happening on Friday. Besides that there was the Spooky Bear Marketplace at the Boatslip featuring artists, craftsmen and clothing vendors, Bingo for a Cause! – A Fundraiser for the Provincetown Food Pantry on Saturday, Art’s Dune Tours and the “Say Ghoul” Drag Brunch at The Crown. Freddy and Jay Freeman from Bear Your Soul at Easton Mountain were also on hand giving their ‘Loving Your Bear Body’ workshops at Outermost Yoga and Ginger Minj was in town at The Art House with her show Hokus Pokus!, a hilarious send up of the beloved 1993 film starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Provincetown itself was the perfect place to celebrate Halloween with its haunted history and lovable townies who were only too happy to welcome the bears back for one last bash this year. And the crowd, though skewing bearish, was made up of lots of jocks, twinks and even some of our sister lesbians who wanted to join the fun of Spooky Bear Weekend. The costumes, in true LGBT style, were equal parts campy and sexy with loads of hot bears in tight spandex superhero costumes, sporting outfits, fetish gear and an assortment of goth/ spooky creations that both impressed and titillated.
The Northeast Ursamen themselves, under the leadership of Dave Greenberg, were on hand at all of the key events to welcome in the crowds and get them in the spirit. They along with their partners The Crown & Anchor, The Boatslip, The Provincetown Business Guild, The Provincetown Office of Tourism, Art’s Dune Tours , and Outermost Yoga banded together to put on an unforgettable event that I personally will be going back to next year – and I hope you’ll come join us!
The next Spooky Bear will take place from October 30th to November 2nd 2025 and the theme will be DISCO! Stay up to date on the event and all the goings on with the Northeast Ursamen at www.ursamen.org.
