by boy Glenn
Wow … how do I explain this past weekend at the Mr. SECC 2011 contest? This is my third year at the event and it still manages to blow me away. For those who have never been, “wow” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’ve racked my brain for the appropriate words to describe this, but as a few of my local friends found out, the only real way to know what it’s like, is to go. As a unique blend of a leather contest and leather run, the weekend has something for everyone into this lifestyle.
Check out the weekend pics here and here All photos courtesy of Kimbery Courchesne.
I guess you can say I’m a bit biased though. As a third year attendee I’ve never been let down. I was an assistant den daddy the first year, and judge’s boy last year. This year as hard as I tried to just be an attendee, the family did me the honor of allowing me to explore a new role as an inspiring MC.
A little background for those unfamiliar: The SECC (Southeast Conference of Clubs) is a coalition comprised of 21 leather organizations from all across the Southeast region of the United States. The club I represent, The South Florida boys of Leather is a member group. The SECC’s core mission is to promote brotherhood, leadership, community, and camaraderie amongst our members and the community at large. I encourage you to read more about us on our website
So enough about me, let’s get to the nitty gritty. You want to know all about the contest don’t you? I’ll provide a breakdown of the weekend for you as best I can.
Although the event formerly starts on Friday, most of the attendees arrive on Thursday at the Parliament House in Augusta, GA. This is a private resort, gay owned and operated, nestled near the Georgia/South Carolina border. More information on the is at : HYPERLINK "http://www.p-house.com/"http://www.p-house.com/ Thursday was a pretty relaxed night. Those of us who arrived spent the evening catching up and having some drinks at the resident bar The Filling Station. No demos, or Pig Pen on Thursday but we still had more fun than we probably should have.
Friday Night:
The first official event of the weekend is the “Welcome” Cocktail party. This is generally an informal cocktail party that gives all the contestants, judges, staff and attendees a chance to meet and mingle before the contest begins. Tonight’s party also included a spectacular show by Michael Brandon. I’m not sure I give too many details, but ‘The Monster’ made an appearance, and everyone enjoyed it. Drinks were had by all, conversations ranged from Glee, to politics, to the proper way to flog, and even one interesting discussion on using ice packs vs ice cubes during nipple play. After a few drinks we all headed over to the Filling Station.
The ‘meet and greet’ presentation took place at the Filling Station. During the ceremony the Judges, and contestants are formally introduced to the crowd.
This year’s judges: Paula Smith, Sandy ‘Mama’ Reinhardt, Rik ‘Sir Hooker’ Treadway, Jeff Jarnigan (Mr. SECC 2009), and head Judge Larry Johnston (Mr. SECC 2010) with Judge’s boy Pup Nitro (Southeast Leatherboy 2011).
This year’s contestants: Ben Carter, Jackie Stuart, Wayne Turpin, and Robert Jennings.
The contestants were given their raffle tickets to sell during the weekend (part of their score) and we all partied the night away. After the formal events is when the real fun of the SECC weekend started. The infamous pig pen was opened, as well as other features of the Parliament House, including the Steam Room, “The Maze,” and the Tower. I’m not entirely sure what happened in the rest of the resort, but I can tell you the Pig Pen was hopping, and the place to be? How do I know, you may ask? Well I was running it. I was asked to be the “DM” so to speak for the night and make sure that everyone played safe, sane and consensually, but more importantly that they played at all. The Pig pen has a no lookie loo rule, and also a no kiss and tell rule… (but I could be emailed for details LOL..) Well after an exhausting night. Everyone retired to their rooms for the main day of the contest ahead.
Saturday and Saturday Night:
Saturday began with multiple breakfasts, one located in the Parliament House’s Café and cooked up by the SECC’s favorite chef Jim Pendleton, and a couple smaller ones held up at the campground. Contestants could be seen selling raffle tickets to breakfast goers, while preparing for interviews and dress rehearsals for the fantasy scenes performed in the afternoon.
Attendees were treated to 3 demos during the morning. The first was an extremely well done scene with Sir Alan Penrod, and his slave Scott involving a Saran wrap mummification, and hot wax encasing. All who attended walked away with a better knowledge of hot wax play in general, and got a very good show.
Michael Brandon also hosted an open discussion called “Ask Michael Anything!” Believe me they did… Michael tried not to blush, but was very honest answering questions and made everyone smile.
Paula Smith entertained the crowd with a temporary piercing demo/discussion called “To bleed or not to bleed…” in which she described the proper way to do piercing play, the dangers/risks involved, and ways to make sure you are safe. As a nurse, Paula was an excellent of information on the subject, and watching her work with the piercing needles was amazing.
Between demos and waiting for the fantasy scenes attendees also got to visit multiple vendors set up in their rooms, such as Steve Leather out of South Carolina, Scopelliti Photography, Steve Rush’s erotic art, and Master Barber Russ Brannan. Also available, was free HIV testing, and full use of the resort facilities.
The afternoon brought us a big delight in the form of the fantasy scenes presented by each of the contestants. The fantasy scenes are part of the scoring, and a chance for the contestants to let us know what gets them hot. Here is a brief description of each for you:
First up was Ben Carter with his scene titled “Man’s best friend.” It started with Ben entering the stage in a business suit, where he discovers his puppy (partner Joe Watkins) has been quite naughty. Daddy Ben needs to teach his puppy a lesson and does so in nothing but his jockstrap. Puppy is put through the motions, learns his lesson, and Daddy Ben gets ‘rewarded’ for his good training..
Next was Wayne Turpin, in a very hot fantasy all of us have had called, “Blue Light Special.” Wayne the motorcycle cop, has pulled over a trucker for speeding, and finds the trucker has also been drinking on the road. Wayne decides to teach the trucker all about the ‘long arm’ of the law via the back of his truck. I don’t think the trucker will be speeding down Wayne’s turf anytime soon… or maybe he will!
Third was Jackie Stewart in a scene called “No Parking”. Park Ranger Jackie happens upon a visitor in a no parking zone, “reading” magazines of Michael Brandon. Well not one to tolerate rule breaking in his park, Jackie punishes this poor motorist with some bondage and hot wax. The motorist seems to be enjoying himself, when all of a sudden a knife is produced and well… Guess Jackie wasn’t a park ranger after all.
Finally we had Robert Jennings with his scene “Alarming Discoveries”. The scene takes place in the terminal of “Transbondage airlines” and features a TSA agent finding some shocking things amongst airline passengers. After a few guests, Robert arrives with a plethora of things hiding in his pockets. Items included a cock ring (which the agent decided to keep) some keys, gum, loose change, a pocket knife, and a pair of handcuffs (which the agent also kept). After wanding Robert’s waist and discovering a PA the security agent escorted Robert behind a white sheet and we were treated to a shadow show, of what happens ‘behind the scenes’.
Some announcements were made following the fantasies; the audience was pumped and entertained, as we headed back to the resort to gear up for the formal leather dinner.
The Formal Leather Dinner is my personal favorite part of the contest weekend. Everyone dresses in their “Sunday Best” (leather that is) and sits down together for a meal and a pre award show. The meal was preceded by the parade of Colors for all the groups in attendance. There must have been at least 20 clubs represented in the Parade this year. We had a fantastic meal, again provided by Jim Pendleton of sirloin steak, stuffed chicken, various vegetables, and a cupcake dessert. Many pictures were taken, conversations were had, recognition of title holders present, and awards presented (non contest related) to members of the SECC.
We got some downtime after the meal, but reconvened for the final part of the contest. The Formal Wear/onstage interview. All of the contestants looked extremely hot in their gear, and entertained the crowd with the answers to their questions asked by Michael Brandon. The judges gave their final scores, and while they results were being tallied, we got some extra entertainment. The Raffle tickets we had all bought during the weekend were drawn for various prizes, and we were given a surprise. There was a performance by non-other than your current American Leather Woman Dakota. She rode in through the audience on her Harley, and gave a house tearing rendition of Lady Ga Ga’s Bad romance. The crowd could not get enough, and all tips were donated to the SECC travel fund. At this point we also learned that the first runner for this weekend’s competition would move on to compete at American Brotherhood Weekend. Also we heard from the current Mr. SECC Larry Johnston as he gave his step down speech.
Now it was time for the award ceremony. The first award was given to Jackie Stewart. He received the 2011 Leather Brotherhood Award for being the contestant that showed the best example of what the SECC is during the weekend.
At this point, it was time to award our winner and present the title of Mr. SECC 2011. You could literally cut the suspense with a knife. 2nd runner up was announced as Wayne Turpin. 1st runner is Jackie Stewart who now advances to American Brotherhood weekend. And the moment we waited all weekend for, Our Mr. SECC 2011 is Ben Carter. The crowd was on its feet with applause and congratulated all of the contestants on a very good job. There were tears of joy, hugs, handshakes, lots of Kodak moments… then the lights were off and we all went back to resort…..
If you think that was the end of the night…. well you just don’t know the SECC. The pig pen opened yet again, and we were treated to more demos from Sir Alan, his boy Pup Nitro, and Slave Scott. This demo involved sleep sacks, CBT, and some impact and electro play. The scene was so hot some watching had to excuse themselves in excitement. Saturday came to a close and everyone went for a good and well deserved night’s sleep.
Sunday:
Okay, bet you thought I was done. Well here is the obligatory “but wait there is more..” moment. SECC events never end on Saturday nights. We always (unofficially) have a full Sunday. Sunday morning we had a huge breakfast, with certificates of appreciation, some excellent food, and open mic time for clubs to make announcements. It was also time for our new Mr. SECC 2011 Ben Carter to give his first speech. I must say Ben carried himself with class, by sharing his moment with all of the judges, and contestants calling them up to join him, as he thanked them for allowing him to represent them for the next year. It’s going to be an interesting year for the SECC and I’m glad we’ll have Ben out there for us.
At this point the weekend is pretty much over, well except a good time at the SECC has a hard time ending. The rest of the afternoon was filled with a “Leather Tea” dance, and a “Drink till it’s gone” block party that went well into moonlight hours. We bid farewell to attendees who had to leave and made promises to keep in touch with our new, current, and old friends.
Like a big family reunion that had come to a close, we packed, we ate, we drank, we slept and eventually we all went home carrying the memories of the weekend with us, and confident that our Mr. SECC 2011 would make us proud in the year to come. See you in 2012!
Well written boy glenn. What an amazing weekend. It was truly a Family reunion. Hugs to everyone.
With Respect and Honor,
Ben Carter, Mr. SECC Leather 2011
Posted by: Mr. SECC 2011 Leather Ben Carter | 02/25/2011 at 11:39 AM