Gear Nights at the Minneapolis Eagle

Editor's note - we encourage kinky gearness whenever and wherever we find it.  And there's a lot of it going on out there!  Dress code parties - gear nights - events that focus on our collective and individual outlaw sexuality.  We became acquainted with Tynan around this year's IML when we ran a series of articles on the IML barebacking ban.  Check it out....this guy is getting stuff done!

Tynan Fox
www.tynanfox.com
 
The Gear Nights started getting bigger at the Minneapolis Eagle for one simple reason - I didn't want to be there alone.
 
I live about an hour outside of Minneapolis in Rochester, MN, having moved there in 2008 from Missouri.  I had gone up there for Leather Night one Saturday toward the middle or end of 2009, and there were about four guys wearing some kind of kinky gear in the whole bar.  The Underground (the area where the leather/latex/kinky dresscode is enforced) was completely desolate.  At this time, the Eagle was hosting Leather Night every Friday and every second Saturday of every month.  It was me and three other guys on a Saturday.  I wore rubber - it was such a novelty.  I explored the rest of the bar, and people didn't know what I was wearing or how it was kinky.  After a few drinks and a little wandering around, I left, feeling a little alone and sad that a city as huge and awesome as this didn't have a kink community after all.   
 
Surely, guys don't spend those thousands and thousands of dollars on gear so it can collect dust in their closets.
 
MIR came and went.  Chicago is an awesome city, but seeing how many people came from all over the country to Chicago taught me that there really are kinksters everywhere.  You just have to find them.  I remember leaving MIR, high as a kite, just thinking with kink-induced optimism, "There's no reason we can't have this feeling in Minneapolis."  Meanwhile, the Eagle had stopped having Leather Night on Fridays.  Now, the premier levi/leather bar in Minneapolis was hosting a dresscode night once a month - just twelve times per year.  With the kind of turnout I had witnessed a few months earlier, I can't say that I blame them. 
 

Happy New Year.  In January 2010, I started getting on Recon and Gearfetish, sending out messages like it's nobody's business.  I knew I wasn't alone here, I just knew it.  There were so many guys on those sites I wanted to meet, but it's impossible to get to know them all separately since I live so far away.  There's no time, especially when you live in Rochester.  I messaged guys, telling them Gear Night was coming up at the Eagle, I'd love to meet you, come out and I'll buy you a drink.  I sent targeted messages, mostly guys who looked pretty easy going who I thought would be likely to respond.  Some were unsure, some made up excuses, but I was determined.  I applied a lot of pressure and it took some arm-twisting, cajoling, and begging to get some guys to PLEASE try to make an appearance.
 
That first month I must have sent out about 75 messages or so, and was met with a mild response.  I probably got about ten "Yes, Definitely!"s.  That second Saturday of January, there were maybe 20 or 25 guys in the underground.  I was thrilled.  I got to meet everyone and make good on the promises I had made to convince people to show up.  It was amazing to just be there, in Minneapolis, having a few drinks with some other kinksters, wearing our gear.  I wore rubber, other guys wore leather, some wore sports gear (and one especially hot hockey player).  Guys felt each other's gear, swapped in some circumstances, got a little bit tipsy, and possibly a little bit slutty. 
 
And it didn't even take a reason.  There was no fucking fundraiser, no emcee, no contest, no bullshit.  Just guys, in their gear, out, and enjoying it (and some of them hooking up). 
 
My gear hasn't had dust on it since.  Month after month, with more simple, quick messages on the sites, on facebook, and provided by good word of mouth by guys who came out for their first time, Gear Night (or Leather Night or whatever you want to call it) began to grow like a wildfire.  This was, of course, helped out by some of the guys I had met in January and subsequently became good friends.  Each month had a better attendence than the last.  In June, I decided to challenge Minneapolis and call it "The Minneapolis 100".  I had submitted the challenge only half thinking we could actually make it.  But I was determined - I didn't let a single person use the excuse, "But I don't have any gear".  Bullshit.  Look in your closets, under your bed, check out a thrift shop, or hell, you can borrow some from me.  You CAN do this.
 
And they did.  In just six months Gear Night grew from twenty guys who didn't know each other and really nervous about going to a bar dressed like that to 100 hot guys in every kind of gear you can imagine, packed underground at the Minneapolis Eagle.  The energy was amazing.  It almost felt like a party at IML.
 
Just when I thought things wouldn't get better, they did.  For August, the word had gotten OUT.  There were over 150 hot guys packed into the underground.  So many that it was difficult to move around sometimes (not that that's truly a problem!!).  And the drinking, groping, gear-swapping, and connecting hasn't decreased a bit either.  I never, ever thought it would be as awesome as that.  With everyone's positive comments and the incredible atmosphere, I'm expecting September to be a huge blow-out.
 
In all of this time and all of this work, people started thinking my messages might have been spam or that I was just working for the Eagle, neither of which are true.  I have not, do not, and won't be employed by the Minneapolis Eagle.  They don't and haven't paid me for my services.  I've paid for every drink I've ever bought at that bar.  My motivation isn't for the profit of any other business, or for myself, for that matter.  Originally, my motivation was to make some friends and not feel like I was the only kinky guy in Minnesota.
 
Now, it's to make sure that no kinky guy feels that way. 
 
....and if one little fox can do all this for one gigantic city he's unfamiliar with, what do you think you can do for your community?

Comments

[Mark]

Great article and even better actions! I am saving the link and going to send people too it as we discuss building community in Denver!!!

[Alan Chiras]

I can disagree with you on many issues, but feel that you are in the right spirit in what you have done with this situation. Best of luck and remember just how much a leatherman can do WITHOUT a sash around their torso!

[Okie]

You've also started a domino effect! As you know, you inspired me to come back to OK after IML this year and try to start getting guys together for a gear night (sadly not (yet) hosted by one of the bars). Though we're still a small group with more getting out there, a guy in Tulsa told me that he liked the idea that he is trying to get one started up there, too.

(Shameless plug: OKC Gear Nights are usually on the 3rd Saturday, except in rare occasions)

Editor's note - We LOVE shameless plugs. Unless their tasteless & shameless. In that case they better either be funny or kinky!

[Keith]

That is awesome!!! Great job on putting yourself out there and making it happen.