The Northeast Ursamen are gearing up for SpookyBear Weekend 2013. The weekend will feature it's popular lineup of events, including the Friday night Saints & Sinners Party, Saturday's Costume Party, and Sunday's Farewell Breakfast. Back again this year will be the Bear Market at the Boatslip and new this year will be a Hamburger Eating Challenge at Blondie's Burgers.

The Bear Market, Produced by Ruff Studio, will take place on Saturday, October 27, 2012 at the Boatslip Resort, from 10AM to 3PM. This event will feature over 15 bear-owned or bear-related vendors from all over the U.S. Always a popular part of bear events held in Provincetown, Bear Market is one part of the weekend you won't want to miss! Please come out and support Furry Talent - and remember, this event will be one day only. Visit the Bear Market event page on Facebook for the latest information.

New this year will be the 1st Annual Hamburger Eating Challenge at Blondie's Burgers. The contest will be open to the first 6 contestants who sign up. The challenge is to eat a Blondie's Grizzly Burger (with over 1 pound of beef) and 1 pound of Blondie's handcut fries (loaded with cheese & chili) inthe fastest amount of time. The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate and trophy. The contest will be Saturday, October 27th at 5PM. The contest is free to enter, but you must sign up by Friday, October 26th. Sign up at Blondie's or at Blondie's Facebook Page. Bring your appetites, and may the best bear win!

It was a night to remember for the Northeast Ursamen, Tommy's Bar, and Richard Shepard, the new Mr. Connecticut Bear 2013. Five contestants gave it their all in front of a crowd of over two hundred, but of course, only one could win. With a panel of seven distinguished judges making the final decision, Richard Shepard place first, Paul Sofia placed second, and Montrell Walters placed third. The weekend kicked off with a Meet & Greet party on Fridya at Tommy's, and wrapped up on Sunday with a Victory Brunch with enough food to sink a ship.

Judges included Joe Mannetti, International Daddybear 2009; Stephen Hogan, Mr. Boston Bear 2011; Jed Ryan, Mr. North American Bear 2012; Jayson Scott, Mr. Connecticut Leather 2007; Tony Winter, Mr. NY State Bear 2011; Chris Thornton - Producer, Mr. New York State Bear & Cub Competition; and Donna Shubrooks, RN - STD Program Coordinator - Hartford Gay & Lesbian Health Collective. Tallymasters for the evening were Gary Kenyon, Mr. San Francisco Eagle 2009; and Rick Streb, founding member of CT Cruisers. The emcee for Friday night was fellow Ursaman Morgana Deluxe, and the emcee for the contest itself on Saturday was fellow Ursaman, Robert Chandler, Mr. eXile Leather 2010.

Midway through the contest, the Northeast Ursamen paused to acknowlege the seventeen founding members of the club, inviting those in attendance to come to the stage. The club also acknowledged all of the club's past presidents, calling any in attendance to the stage. In attendance on Saturday night were Founding President Joe Yandow, Al Drozdal, and John-Albert Mosely. The event was covered by The Rainbow Times.

The Northeast Ursamen will begin selling weekend packages for their upcoming Mr. Connecticut Bear Contest Weekend in early May. Run packages will be reasonably priced and will include all cover charges for the weekend, and will contain special merchandise to commemorate the event. There will be two tiers of packages, one of which will include a special Bear Buffet Dinner at Baci Grill in Cromwell, CT.

Our Host Hotel has also been selcted. For our first year, we are going with Super 8 Cromwell/Middletown. We have negotiated a special rate for this event, but you must call the hotel directly and metion "Northeast Ursamen" in order to get this rate. To reserve your room now, call 860-632-8888 (visit our accomodations page for more information about the hotel and our special rates.) We will also have a Hospitality Suite open on two nights, with each night being sponsored by an area club. The Friday night Hospitality Suite will be sponsored by CT Cruisers, and the Saturday night Hospitality Suite will be sponsored by Bear Providence. The Northeast Ursamen are most excited to team up with these clubs for a weekend of fun and surprises!!

We have uploaded a mini-site to begin promotion of the event. As more information becomes available, we will update the site. Please mark your calendars now for August 3-5 and join us in celebrating our 20th Anniversary!!

The Northeast Leather Weekend recently held in Providence brought in people from all over the country, but what made it special for our club was that two members competed and one of them came home with a title! Club member Daddy John (who is also a member of CT Cruisers) competed for the title of Northeast LeatherSir 2012 and placed first!! His boy Scooby, also a club member (and member of CT Cruisers and the newly formed Leather boys of New England), competed for the title of Northeast Leatherboy 2012 and came in as the first runner up. It takes a lot of courage to get up on stage and compete in front of hundreds of people. In our minds, they are all winners, and the Northeast Ursamen are certainly proud of both Daddy John and Scooby. When you see them out at an area event, please congratulate both of them for a job well done.

Weekend Packages for Bear Migration, the Ursamen's annual trek to Hillside Campgrounds, are now available online from our mini-site. Package prices are $85 for members and $115 for non-members. Packages include your registration for Site 60, your Annual Hillside membership, and all meals for the weekend. If you would like to register using your credit card or PayPal account, please visit our registration page. If you prefer to print an application and mail it in with your check or money order, you can download the application from the same registration page. This will be our 19th consecutive year at Hillside. We hope you can join us - this event NEVER disappoints!!

The Northeast Ursamen are excited to announce that they have recently acquired the rights to contest title known as Mr. Connecticut Bear from the Twilight Guard. As part of the Northeast Ursamen's 20th Anniversary Celebrations, the club will convene the first Mr. Connecticut Bear competition since the 1990's. The contest date has been set for Saturday, August 4, 2012, and will take place at Tommy's in Middletown, which is widely known as Connecticut's Bear Bar. As more information becomes available regarding the competition and events surrounding it, we will post it here at www.ne-ursamen.org.

The Northeast Ursamen have announced the slate of events for this year's Out Of Hibernation event in Provincetown, MA. Again this year, the Northeast Ursamen are teaming up with the Provincetown Bears and Mr. CT Leather to bring you a fun filled St. Patrick's Day weekend in P-Town. The Provincetown Bears along with the Crown and Anchor, will be bringing you free entertainment in the form of Blake Evan Shemran, star from "Bear City" and the comedy troupe "Mauled". Mr. CT Leather will be hosting their legendary "Bear & Cub Auction", and the Northeast Ursamen will be sponsoring their signature "Butch & Bruisers Boots & Boxers Party." The weekend will be rounded out with a bear-approved all you can eat buffet at Michael Shay's Restaurant.

Out Of Hibernation carries on a tradition originally started by the New England Bears, who incepted the event as "Hibernation Weekend". The event was reinvented by the Mass Bay Bears in the mid 2000's as a collaboration between area bear clubs. In 2009, the event came over to the Northeast Ursamen and is still in continuous operation.

If you have not booked your rooms yet, please check with the host hotel, The Crown & Anchor, or visit www.ptown.org for more information on accomodations.

Full information on the event can be found on the Northeast Ursamen's mini-site for Out Of Hibernation 2011.

Fellow club member Matt Kenney, aka Mr. Connecticut Leather 21012, journeyed to Washington DC to compete in the Mid-Atlantic Leather competition, and came home as the 2nd Runner Up!! Matt competed against nine other leathermen from across the region in what shaped up to be an exciting race. Several members of the Northeast Ursamen were present to cheer him on, including Mr. Hillside Leather & Hillside Leatherboy 2011 John & Gary, Mike & Seamus from Boston, and Robert & Michael from Ohio/Baltimore. Our club is very proud of Matt and his accomplishments. Please come congratulate Matt on a job well done at our next event, "Leather & Fur Bear Night" at Partners in New Haven on February 18th, 2012. Follow Matt's adventures through his title year on Facebook by clicking here.

For the fourth year in a row, the Northeast Ursamen rang in the New Year in the company of good freinds at Tommy's Restaurant in Middeltown, CT. Attendance was up, the food was great, and the crowd enthusiastically cheered in 2012 without spilling too much champagne. Okay, maybe a little too much champagne hit the floor, but no baers were damaged in the process. All in all, a good time was had by all, including our cover-cub Ian who was our fourth consecutive "Baby Bear" for our "Neumen New Year" series of posters.

Something that made the mood a little more special was knowing that this party marked the start of our Twentieth Anniversary year. Its not very often that a club lasts this long, and we are excited to be planning something special in 2012 to mark the occasion. We can't tell you what, at least not yet, but if New Year's Eve was any indicator, the rest of 2012 will be a great way to kick off the next twenty years of the Northeast Ursamen! Stay tuned, more is yet to come!