International Bear Convergence is Back!
By David Goodman. / 18 October 2014
International Bear Convergence – Palm Springs (or “IBC” to those in the know) celebrates its second year and expects quite a massive attendance in 2015. The event that was launched last year in beautiful Palm Springs, California, was a hit amongst the bear community and promises to fulfill everyone’s bear event wishes with two great headliners, Ultra Nate and Amber. Steve Harris, the event’s promoter, shared with BWM that the Saturday night “underwear dance” is going to be quite spectacular. Ultra and Amber are going to put on an hour show with a big finale of, “If You Could Read My Mind.”
On top of great entertainment, the hotel boasts one of the largest pools for a bear event in the world. The pool area at the host hotel, The Renaissance Palm Springs, accommodates over 4,000 and is very well-known for hosting these types of events. There will be world-renown DJs such as John Lepage from San Francisco, Doug Jackson from Ft. Lauderdale, Sean Mac from Atlanta, Roke Cabrerra from Spain, Jim Gokey from Palm Springs, and a few others to be announced. Last year, the event’s first year, had a daily attendance of over 1,400. In 2015 from pre-tag sales so far and hotel bookings, the event is expecting over 3,000!
The city of Palm Springs is used to large events. Jeff Sanker’s White Party usually packs the city with over 8,000 attendees. Harris is hoping IBC will grow to over that amount. “Palm Springs is the perfect bear event city,” says Harris. “Between the gay clothing optional resorts and the hotels here, we can host over 12,000 with room to grow. This could end up being the largest bear event in the world.” All the bars and gay shops are only a five-minute walk from the host hotel, and with the anticipation of so many coming in 2015, the bars and stores are getting ready for a “Bear Invasion.”
Harris says they are adding additional tours next month for those who want to see more of Palm Springs. As Modernism Week is the same week, Harris and the Modern Bear group are working on some fun tours for the Bears during IBC.
There are also tours up to the tram and there are many restaurants within walking distance to the host hotel.
“As of now, the host hotel is over 40% sold,” says Harris. “We have added pool chairs to give more value to the VIP passes and those are already 50% sold. We have guys booking run tags from all around the world. Last year we had guys attend from over 13 countries.”
The airport in Palm Springs is a five-minute drive from the host hotel and most airlines connect there; or, you can fly into Ontario, California, and drive 70 minutes into the desert. For more information about IBC, go to its web page, www.ibc-ps.com. BWM is a very proud sponsor of this event. We will be there to capture all the events and hot guys attending!