After 20 years in existence, Bear Bust has a new owner.
The Parliament House has purchased the rights to the name “Bear Bust,” effectively shifting ownership of the event from the apparently-dissolved Bears of Central Florida, Inc. (BOCF) to the gay resort and nightclub. The transfer happened at the end of September, just ahead of the second weekend of October, the traditional timing of the annual Bear Bust social, fundraising and reunion event.
“Since Full Moon Saloon's inception, it's always been a big weekend here for us,” said Parliament House spokesman Drew Sizemore. “We felt like we still owed it to the community to keep that weekend for the bears here in Orlando.”
Full Moon Saloon was a downtown bar that was frequently the social center point for the Bear Bust event. It closed in 2007. In 2009, BOCF shifted the event from downtown to Kissimmee, which created conflict among the local bear community resulting in the creation of a separate bear group called BC3, which ran a separate bear event downtown in partnership with Parliament House. In 2010, the groups reconciled after Rob Roberts took over BOCF's presidency. Sizemore confirmed that Roberts has been the primary BOCF contact when they came to the agreement to purchase the rights to the event.
When contacted for comment, Roberts was unable to comment except to say “[BOCF] is pretty much defunct.”
Sizemore said Bear Bust will move forward as planned Oct. 14-16, but because of the limited time frame, they're saving big expansions to the event for 2012.
“Next year we are going to revamp Bear Bust with all new events and parties, 100% of which will be held at the Parliament House,” Sizemore said. “2012, we hope, will be the rebirth of Bear Bust.”
He said this year they'll carry out BOCF's original plans for events at Parliament House, adding that any outside excursions and organized restaurant dinners are cancelled.
Those events include the Full Moon Reunion Oct. 14, the Mr. Bear Bust Contest Oct. 15 and the Farewell Party and T-Dance Oct. 16.
Sizemore said Parliament House's hotel is fully booked for the weekend, with overflow guests booked at various downtown hotels. The Crowne Plaza was the planned host hotel and they are still booking guests for the weekend, but Sizemore said any events at that hotel have been cancelled.
BearBust.org was the online home for the event and it currently points to an expired domain message. Sizemore said Parliament House will take over the website as well after this year's event.
At press time, he was unable to comment on the purchase price of the Bear Bust rights. 2011 will mark the event's 21st year.
