BWM’s Exclusive Recap of Wet Oso Weekend!
Wet Oso Weekend hosted by the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) Bears took place from September 6-8, and by all accounts was a resounding success! We are joined by RGV board member Abraham “Abe” Hinojosa who generously shares details about this year’s festivities.
Abe tells us the RGV Bears wanted to have a past meets present kind of vibe at Wet Oso Weekend, so the themes for the two-night circuit parties were “Dirty Disco” and “Inter-Bearlactic”; with the first theme being an opportunity for people to strut vintage gear and the second theme being an opportunity for people to jump into the space/futuristic gear/circuit bear wear vibes.
Besides the parties, the RGV Bears had a whole assortment of activities lines up for the bears in attendance:
“We try really hard to make each Wet Oso Weekend bigger and better than we have had before” Abe tells us. “This year we had a jam-packed schedule of events and things to do for attendees:
- We started Friday with our Bear Beach Party where attendees got to enjoy the best of what our beach has to offer along with scheduled cocktail hours hosted by our friends/brothers from other bear and leather groups across the state. This year we had Grizzly Pines, Texas Leather Society, and RGV Bears host the cocktail hours.
- Another big highlight of Friday was our Sunset Cruise! This was an add-on activity available to anyone where we took a 2 hour sunset tour of the Bay here at South Padre Island where attendees were able to have a closer setting to meet and mingle with our entertainers and gogo dancers for the weekend. Drinks were sponsored by our friends at Embarkaction Vacations.
- That Friday also kicked off the start of our first Mr. Wet Oso competition. We wanted to make sure that whoever was crowned as Mr. Wet Oso this year was able to really embody the spirit of the event along with being a promoter for body positivity and bear culture wherever they return home to. The contest consisted of the following categories: Gogo Dance, Swimwear, and a fun pop question/ Q&A.
- On Saturday we knew we wanted to take things to a whole other level, so this year we partnered up with BearMex, one of Mexico’s largest bear organizations and bear event organizers for our Caldo De Oso Pool Party. It was an epic partnership that yielded one of the best pool parties we have had at Wet Oso Weekend!
- On top of our epic pool party, we also partnered with our local Valley AIDS Council to host an informative and entertaining brunch that featured local drag talent plus the one and only Dr. Carlton Thomas with a talk on all things LGBTQ Health/Sexual Health.
- Aside from the above, we were constantly amazed at the different parts of the world our attendees came from; this year people having come from California, Canada, D.C., Utah and many other places across the state of Texas and the country!”
Over 450 bears turned up at Wet Oso Weekend, far exceeding the initial projection of 300 people and leagues ahead of where the event started four years ago when just 75 bears attended. The event continues to grow year of year with no signs of slowing down!
“We try every year to make our event bigger and better, and with 2025 being our 5-year anniversary we will not be holding back!” said Abe. “While it’s too early to confirm some of the stuff we are planning to have in store, Wet Oso Weekend 2025 is looking to be the best one yet!”
You heard it hear first bears. Start making your plans now for next year’s Wet Oso Weekend 2025, taking place September 5-7, 2025 in South Padre Island, Texas!
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