Food, Drinks and Men

We will help you scare up a good time.

MASS BAY BEARS

MB Lounge, 40 Grafton St., Worcester, MA

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Free parking, easy to find behind Union Station, and there’s even public transportation from Boston.
MBTA Commuter Rail | Peter Pan Buslines

Where

Map: Google | Yahoo | MapQuest

Also, consider joining the fellas for a Bear Hike & Dinner on Saturday afternoon!

Starting Saturday, July 28, 2007 2:00 pm aka This Saturday

What

We’ll meet at the parking lot of River Bend Farm in Uxbridge at 2pm and from there carpool “upriver” to our starting point. Parking & admission are free. The path is level and generally well-maintained so everyone should be comfortable. We’ll be walking about 3 miles. Dogs & cameras are welcome. We’ll be hiking even if it is cloudy or rainy, it’s still fun & spectacular.

Afterwards everyone is invited to join us for an all-you-can-eat family-style dinner at Wright’s Farm (great roast chicken!) Then later that night the MB Lounge in Worcester is hosting a Bear Night.

Where

Hike

Map: Google | Yahoo | MapQuest

Dinner

Map: Google | Yahoo | MapQuest

Bar

Map: Google | Yahoo | MapQuest

Cost

Free!

We’ll meet in the parking lot at noon, and return to it at 2pm. Car pooling is suggested. Trustees members free, nonmembers $5. The walking is moderate so everyone should be comfortable. Afterwards everyone is invited to lunch nearby.

World’s End Reservation

MASS BAY BEARS Bears in the Woods II at Hillside Campgrounds in Gibson, Pa.

Begins: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 at 1:00 AM

Ends: Sun, 08 Jul 2007 at 12:00 PM

Entry fee: $38

Location:

Hillside Campgrounds

Site 60

Gibson, PA 18820

USA

Bears II Weekend Options

1. July 4th/Bears II (6/29 – 7/8): 9 nights of camping which include Hillside’s July 4th extended weekend through and including Bears II. Includes numerous parties, 7 nights of bonfires, a parade, and 2 full weekends. $110/person, limited to the first 20 people.
2. Bears II Weekend only (7/6-7/8): 2 nights of camping. $38 per person
3. Bears II Weekend with extended nights: Same as Bears II Weekend, however early arrival is ONLY permitted on Thursday, options to stay Sun, and Mon, each for an additional $15/night.

There will be no site-sponsored party during either of these weekends.

All fees include paypal processing fees.

For more info: bearscamping@aol.com

Lawn Chair Bears at Boston Gay Pride Parade

Begins: Sat, 09 Jun 2007 at 11:00 AM

Ends: Sat, 09 Jun 2007 at 2:00 PM

Entry fee: $0.00

Location:

Government Center Plaza

Boston, MA

Link: http://www.bostonpride.org/

Link: http://www.MassBayBears.org/

After the reading bears into books are invited to join Wayne & company for dinner in nearby Chinatown. This is a great opportunity to meet some other local fellas into gay & bear literature in a social setting.

Finally, for a bearier reading meet up with Wayne at 7:30pm at The Alley where he’ll give a rather more explicit reading from “Hard”. Stop by, have a beer, make your Monday evening a bit different and get your book for P’town Bear Week.

The Downtown Crossing Borders Bookstore is at the corner of Washington St & School St. in Boston. By subway it is closest to Downtown Crossing Station. By car you can park at the Pi Alley Garage ajacent The Alley after 5pm and get a discount with a visit to the bar.

We’ve got a bunch of guesthouses offering discounts, the bear clubs are all holding events, we’re even happily coordinating smaller get-togethers so fellas with specific interests (Sci-Fi, Photography, etc.) can meet up!

Provincetown in March is wildly beautiful, more so without the crowds, without the high prices, just lots of Bears, Cubs, Admirers & Friends, from all around New England & beyond. Make you plans now to come down for a day, for a night, or for the whole weekend.

We look forward to your joining us. Please, spread the word, and if you’ve got a special interest, a hobby, something you’d like to share with others or meet others into, get in touch and we’ll see about setting you up with a meeting space!

Russell and Marshall’s Super Bowl Party

Begins: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 at 6:00 PM

Ends: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 at 10:00 PM

Entry fee: Free

Location:

16 Suffolk Court

Lynn, MA

Tags: gay bear cub mass-bay-bears lynn superbowl football party social

Saturday, September 30th, 11am - Meet at Purgatory Chasm in Sutton, Mass. just south of Mass Pike exit 10a, off Mass. Rt.146

Parking is free, we can meet in front of the Ranger Station, BooBoo!!! (For those in the Springfield, Mass. / Hartford, Ct. area, if you want to come to my house at 9am and carpool, I can probably fit 5 in my vehicle).

I figured we’d do a short trail walk first to warm-up, then do the chasm, then maybe try one of the other trails. Stopping for lunch along the way, around 1pm. The main road isn’t far, we can leave the park and grab sandwiches somewhere (someone say sammiches??)

I figured we would leave the park by 3/3:30pm, and those that would like can come on back to our house in Springfield, Mass. by exit 6 to relax, have a shower and go in the Hot Tub. We’re at 79 Ingersoll Grove, Springfield, Mass. 01109

Around 6pm we’ll just keep it casual and order some pizzas.

Others are welcome to join us at the house if you just want to do the hot tub. Feel free to BYOB. And please bring a towel.

Not sure if there are any ‘events’ going on in downtown Springfield that night, but we are only about 10 minutes from downtown.

We have 5 spare bedrooms (full size beds, 4 full, 1 queen futon) if some would like to stay over. Just RSVP to Charlie & Gary, as it’ll be first come first served! Could be 5 couples or 10 singles.

Sunday morning, we can have brunch in Northampton, Mass. at Union Station. It’s one of the best brunches, and unique settings. It’s about 20 minutes north of our house, off exit 19 on I-91. Take I-91 North to Exit 18. Turn left on Route 5. Proceed 3/4 mile. Union Station is on the right.

Brunch is $16.95 a person, here’s the menu. Served 10am-2pm, but I am aiming to get there for 11am, for those trucking on to see “The Women” in Boston at 3pm, or to Lake Compounce Amusement Park, with the Ursamen, (Sunday, 5-10pm, Bristol, Ct.)

What to bring:

• For Purgatory Chasm; wear sturdy shoes to protect your ankles, hiking boots, etc.
• Depends on weather, but I’d really encourage long pants.
• Long sleeve shirt, close fitting to avoid snags.
• I’d also recommend some kind of gloves. I plan to just get some cheap Ocean State Job Lot gardening ones that have suede palms.
• Some of the rocks looked mossy, so plan accordingly.
• Perhaps bug repellent.
• I don’t plan to wear sunglasses or carry a cellphone. They can only fall or get lost. We’ll be low enough on the trail that high sun won’t be an issue. But feel free to bring ‘em and keep in the car.

EXPECT TO SCALE & CLIMB ON ROCKS! There is a ‘path’ at the bottom where you can duck/limbo under the rocks and travel through, but I’d rate this trail as something more exciting than your average hiking trail, but not so challenging you’d be repelling and needing spikes or crampons. But you will probably need to utilize all 4 limbs.

Hot Tub: Please bring your own towel, if you plan to shower or use the hot tub. Suits are not necessary (better for water quality) but it’s ok if you want to wear one. Just please rinse & wring it out so it’s not sudsy. We have a fair amount of privacy on the deck where the tub is, but not in the driveway or backyard. The tub is kept at 103/104, if it’s too hot: GET OUT OF THE WATER. Allow others some time to use it too, there is room for up to 8 people in the tub.

Contact info:
Charlie beartunes@aol.com
my cell: 413-896-7257
our house: 413-747-5451

Hope to see you!
-Charlie & Gary

Hosted by Charlie:

beartunes

Hosted by Gary

bear

At the Langham Hotel in downtown Boston, on Saturday, September 23rd, indulge yourself at the unlimited, gourmet Chocolate Bar at Cafe Fleuri.

No, not something to do every day, but make it a special occasion with friendly bears and luscious treats!

There’s even a section with low-carb & sugar-free delectables.

We’ll be taking over a number of tables, just ask for “the Bears!”

Everyone is back in town so join us for the resumption of the monthly* Bear, Cub, & Friends get-togethers.

*Held in months with the letter “r” in them

Hosted by

MichaelMaggard

Before the crowds of Labor Day hit enjoy at day at the beach with the Bears in lovely Ogunquit, Maine on Saturday, August 26th.

Two of the contestants from the recent Mr. Bear & Cub Contest, Brian & Mark, along with Mr. Cub New England 2006, Seamus, are inviting everyone for a day of fun on the sand, just head to Ogunquit Beach and look for the Bear Flag (and crowd of smiling hot men.)

They’ve got lots of southern New Hampshire & southern Maine fellas showing up so it should be a great opportunity for guys from across the region to meet, chat, splash, see who can steal eachother’s swimsuits out in the waves , etc.

Then as the beach starts to clear out we’ll all be trooping in a mass bear migration to a Bear BBQ hosted for us at Luigi’s Rt. 1 BBQ, part of the Maine St. complex in downtown Ogunquit. There we can all hang out, have a few beers, enjoy some pulled pork, and bask in that wonderful post-beach glow as we enjoy the setting sun with our newfound buddies.

Ogunquit is an hour North of Boston. There is parking right by the beach if you arrive early in the day, a few blocks away by the fire station all day, and trolley service around town for those not into walking the few blocks. Fellas are encouraged to carpool, to invite friends who might be shy about coming alone, and to generally make a day of it. There are changing facilities & freshwater showers at the main entrance to the beach, also snack-stands. Picnic baskets are fine, just no glass. The beach is broad & clean, the water magnificent this time of year, flies aren’t a problem, bring sunblock to share, and did we mention the fellas are friendly?

Bear_Contest_2006/

Congratulations to Eric Berta of Vermont who won Mr. Bear and Seamus Diggs of Massachusetts who won Mr. Cub in the 2006 Mr. Bear and Cub New England Contest! The Alley Bar was packed to the rafters and the event was hosted by porn star Bourne, who did a wonderful job of putting the contestants through their paces. The opening of the contest featured all the contestants in a porn movie spoof called Desperate Housebears. A touching tribute was also shown to honor slain Mr. Bear New England 1999, John Beresford and money was raised to support the foundation established in his name. Each and every contestant was great, and The Mass Bay Bears would like to thank each and every one of them for making this such a memorable event!

You can view some photos taken of the event here, and if you have any to share of that evening, please send them to photos@massbaybears.org.

The Mass Bay Bears are proud to announce our sponsoring of Site 60 at the very popular Hillside Campgrounds in Gibson, Pa. for their Bears II (July 7-9) & Bears III (August 25-27) weekends this summer!

For those of you not familiar, Hillside is an all-male, clothing optional camping experience that you won’t soon forget. There is a huge, clean in-ground swimming pool, a rec hall, a campground-sponsored social event every Saturday afternoon, a snack bar with burgers, ice cream and soda, hundreds of acres for roaming and finding out just what bears do in the woods, and more. (for detailed information about the campground, please visit www.HillsideCampgrounds.com)

Site 60 is an enormous group tent site at Hillside with an outdoor kitchen featuring a shared ‘fridge, sink, & stove, a dozen communal picnic tables, adjacent showers & sanitary facilities, and our own (50 car) parking. We’ll have an ongoing campfire for everyone to sit around & share in addition to the nightly bonfires in front of the rec hall.

The cost is quite affordable, only $45/weekend per person (non-refundable, but transferable right up to the week before each event) for each weekend. There is also a one time annual membership fee (last year it was $4) that you pay on your first visit of the year. That fee covers camping and use of the facilities on Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday of each weekend. Early arrivals and departures can be accommodated at the rate of $15/night per person, but cannot carry forward or back to another weekend. Every weekend is a theme weekend all summer long. You can view the entire 2006 schedule on the website mentioned above.

You’ll note that our fee is $10 above the campground fee… this is to provide funding for our site-sponsored party on Saturday afternoon, immediately following the Campground party. During Bears III this year, we’ll bring back Naked Bear Twister and promise similar fun and games for the party during Bears II.

If you would like to reserve a tent spot for you and your friends now is the time to secure that spot. Rich Hanson is organizing these weekends and can be contacted via Hillside@MassBayBears.org with the following info:

1. Number of people you are reserving space for:
2. Names of those people:
3. Email address for each person:

Rich will then contact you with his address so that you can get your money in on-time. This is a first pay/first served event as spaces are limited. Bears II is filling up quickly and Bears III won’t be far behind. Don’t miss out!! Rich will be signing people up during most upcoming Mass Bay Bears events, or wherever you may run into him. Don’t get shut out, contact him today at Hillside@MassBayBears.org.

Rich will be happy to answer any questions that you have!!! Share this info with all of your woofy friends and all friends of woofy people!!

Thanks for coming to Beach Blanket Bear 2006! Bears and cubs came from as far away as Maine to have fun in the sun at this annual event. The weather was beautiful and the water temp was just right. Everyone got “leied”, while the sounds of steel drums and Annette Funicello wafted through the ocean breeze. See you next year!

Click on the photo to see more from the event!

Over the weekend of March 17-19 the Mass Bay Bears in cooperation with the Northeast Ursaman, the Green Mountain Growlers and the Provincetown Bears held our first annual Out of Hibernation weekend in Provincetown, Mass.

We would like to thank all of those who helped with & attended Out of Hibernation 2006, making it such a huge success!

The event brought together 250 Bears and their admirers from across the country for a list of weekend activities over St Patrick’s Day weekend. Activities included a “Welcome Coco Party” hosted by the Mass Bay Bears and The Ranch Guesthouse, a “Book Release Reception” by Editor and Author Ron Suresha for his book “Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way”, a “Seashore Hike” hosted by Erik Kristensen, a “Funny Bear Video Party” hosted by the Green Mountain Growlers at the Paramount, “Butch & Bruiser’s Boots and Boxers Party” hosted by The Northeast Ursamen at the Paramount, and a “Sunday Brunch” hosted by the Provincetown Bears at Michael Shay’s Rib and Seafood House.

Once again thanks to all who made this event such a success. To learn more or to see photos please see www.OutOfHibernation.org

The Mass Bay Bears invite everyone for a Dim Sum Bear Brunch in Boston’s Chinatown on Sunday, March 12th, at 12:30 pm. We will meet at the Emperor Garden, 690 Washington St., Boston, Mass.*

For those of you who have not tried Dim Sum, it is a Chinese style of eating many small dishes. Dim Sum translates as "touching your heart" and these tasty small morsels really do. The advantage of sampling them is the great variety available: There are steamed shrimp and pork dumplings, rice and noodle dishes, sweet desserts, deep-fried egg rolls, taro root and veggie dumplings, green peppers with shrimp filling, and on and on. There is always a huge variety of dishes and something for everyone. Waitstaff travel to each table and show you range of dishes from which you pick what you want. People can get individual bills, but it can be fun to share a bill with a few people and get to try many different dishes.

Please RSVP to the host, Rob McDevitt by Friday, March 10th so he can guesstimate how many for the restaurant (if you don’t RSVP please feel free to show up - you might just get put at the extra table ). Rob will be there early to get us a table, wearing his Mr. New England Bear vest so people can find us. All are welcome to attend, from any bear club or from no bear club, bring friends!! The last one was fantastic!

* For those unfamiliar with the Boston’s Chinatown there are two great ways to get there: Park at any outlying MBTA station and then ride to Chinatown Station or Boylston Station, from there the restaurant is a block away. Or, drive to the same parking garage that you use going to The Alley, then walk about 5 minutes down Washington St., through Downtown Crossing. The Emperor Garden is very visible, housed in a former theater with a marquee in front.

Map of
690 Washington St
Boston, MA 02111-1614

The Mass Bay Bears have been getting a lot of attention lately!

The other week In Newsweekly ran photos from the Toy Drive we did with the Enforcers NE at The Alley Bar in December. Also the movie from our Bear Foam Party went up on Google Video where it’s quite popular. Now on Tuesday we were mentioned on BearPodcast with a recommendation for the upcoming Out of Hibernation (make your room reservations ASAP!) We’ve also gotten some requests to co-sponsor some more regional events, which you’ll be hearing more about soon.

We’ve also got a couple of local events fellas are putting together that should be announced in the next week or so. These include some more bar nights, a Bear Video Night, the long-promised Metro-West Bear Night, and a special surprise or two! If you’ve got any ideas for some events for ‘da Bears’ please, let us help you make it happen! If your New Years Resolution was to make some more buddies then Mass Bay Bear events are a great way to meet ‘em!

Lastly, as soon as some more improvements are made on the MBB website we’ll be announcing the shut-down of the old New England Bears Yahoo! Groups email list. MBB website traffic has been growing by leaps and bounds every week, both the text material and the photo galleries, and we seem to be keeping up! Our emails aren’t too taxing and an increasing number of fellas are subscribing via blog-readers and feed-reader pages on MSN, Yahoo!, and Google (we’ll have instructions out soon for the less cutting-edge of us!)

Thank You EVERYONE for supporting us our first six months, and here’s to the next year being even better!

On Saturday, January 7th, the Mass Bay Bears journeyed to Worcester to watch the hunky cowboys of the Professional Bull Riders tame their steers in the DCU Center.

MadCubb hosted the event. A total of six Bears attended and get to see bull, cowboys and lots of eye candy. The event was actually carried live on ONL. Afterwards we made our way over to the MB Lounge for some beers (some had mixed drinks but they pretended it was beer) and fun .

Saturday night was the Leather / Bear Toy Drive at The Alley Bar and it was a BLAST!

The Mass Bay Bears partnered with the Enforcers NE, a Leather/Fetish club that focuses on raising funds for HIV/AIDS issues, to put together a Toy Drive at The Alley Bar for HIV+ kids and HIV+ parents of kids this holiday season. Central to the Toy Drive was challenging the other Bear & Leather/Fetish clubs of New England to supply baskets to be raffled off.

Nineteen baskets by groups and individuals answered the challenge!

Among bear baskets the Green Mountain Growlers sent a Vermont Picnic Basket, the Woofy Bears (Paul & Bill) from New England Bear Couples donated a huge basket, Mr. New England Bear ‘05 Rob McDev had a towering pile of a basket, and the Mass Bay Bears offered up a big leather basket of bears & mementos from our 6 months/18 events.

Dozens of wonderful men brought toys to donate at the door, ranging from stuffed toys to board games to dolls and train sets, many with whole towering stacks of toys!

Marshal & Russell donated sacks of Teddy Bears, Chris Mederios had bags of assorted toys he had collected from Episcopal Divinity School. The toys donated by everyone were amazing in their number, diversity, and quality. Indeed everyone involved was taken aback by just how MANY and how GREAT the toys were!

Raffle ticket sales were by Bill G., Michael Maggard, and Mr. NEB ‘05 Rob McDev. Our Santas & Elves sold tickets by the singles and by the strips, measuring inseams and diligently splitting strips of tickets. With their assistance and the good natured donations of our ticket buyers we raised over $1,000 to be used to buy yet *more* toys.

The crowd was warm and friendly, it was a great opportunity for the Bear & Leather crowds to meet and mingle, many smiling faces were seen!

Heartfelt thanks go out from the Mass Bay Bears & the Enforcers NE to The Alley Bar, and The Alley Bar Staff, for their support and assistance. Finally, and most importantly: Thanks to everyone, all of the Bears and men of Leather and everyone else who showed up, came together, donated funds and toys and gift baskets to make the holidays better for HIV+ kids and HIV+ parents of kids.

This week all of the toys will be going out to the agencies distributing them. Photos from the evening are now being posted on the websites for the Mass Bay Bears and the Enforcers NE.

Again, THANK YOU!

The best to you and yours this holiday season,

Michael, MBB Host for the Toy Drive
Mass Bay Bears

The Mass Bay Bears went on an excursion to reasonably-priced Swedish-contemporary furniture & housewares. We brought back some new buddies!

IKEA in other cities is a hugely popular Bear-spotting venue, the one in Mass. is, we’re happy to report, also full of humpy eye-candy looking back 15 fellas braved the Friday after-work holiday traffic for gang cruising shopping, had dinner in the trés chic café, then continued on our rampage of the store. We had a great time, the staff even photographed us getting a dozen Bears onto a bed to, er, “stress test it” (yeah!)

Hosted by Michael

About 25 fun fellas showed up for the Asian Buffet at East Manor in Saugus. They came from all around, indeed we had a Vermonter & an Ontarian visiting. The decor was, well, over-the-top doesn’t begin to describe it (”Welcome to Dr. Evil’s Chinese Buffet!”).

Things started out kinda scary with an empty parking lot, turns out the resturaunt doesn’t open ’til 11:30. However they opened their doors on time and were gracious about a herd of peckish Bears grabbing tables and heading off to fill plates, sit down, and get to meeting each other. So chat we did, and nosh, and make jokes and tell funny stories and all around have an exuberant time.

Hosted by Chris

In response to Hurricane Katrina Rob McDevitt of the Mass Bay Bears started working with The Alley Bar to plan a fundraiser. Out of this came a night of fundraising to assist 3 former members of the New England Bear community who had been devastated by the storms.

Organized by The Alley Bar and involving the Mass Bay Bears, the Boston Bears, and the Imperial Court of Massachusetts, with the support of many more, the night was a huge success raising over $1,600 to help the fellows through their rough time.

Hosted by The Alley Bar

The Mass Bay Bears explored the Wizard World Boston Comic Convention. We toured the show floor and and had a fun time geeking out, lotsa shopping, went to several panels on comic book topics, checked out lots of amazing artists making and showing their work.

It was a fun time, some guys with common interests got to meet up, hope to see all you at more events.

Hosted by MadCubb

Gerry and David hosted a fun ‘n friendly bear brunch at their lovely Medford home. Over the course of the day about two dozen fellas dropped in over the course of the afternoon, had some quiche, a beer, and many went on to their cards read by the lovely “Madame June”.

It was a great lazy Sunday hangout with lots of socializing, laughter, and story-telling.

Take a dance floor, fill it, and we mean up-above-your-head fill it, with suds! Now keep pouring them on, blowing them out, covering everyone in thick mounds of foam. Now add a buncha half-naked furry guys & their fans, gettin’ damp in the billows of suds, occasionially getting lost together in a particularly deep corner! Turn on the disco lights, add music, you’ve got a great time!

A few dozen Bears joined us in the foam, got wet (slick, sticky, sudsy), had a blast, more watched & hung out around the dance floor.

Hosted by Michael

(Labor Day Weekend) Chez Pooch was a blast with a fabulous pool, friendly fellas, and fantastic food. Pooch & the Poochettes (his brother & sister-in-law) were wonderful hosts as we lazed around the pool, competed at “washers” (think “horse-shoes” but with cock-rings) and enjoyed the never-ending stream of good eats, many prepared by Chef Dewey.

Fun, friendly, mellow, a signataure Mass Bay Bears event!

(Labor Day Weekend) A beach, a big rainbow umbrella, a crowd of Bears & buddies - a wonderful way to spend a sunny end-of-summer Saturday on the sand. All afternoon fellas were finding each other, meeting up, heading out for a splash in the cold Maine waves, slathering around the sun-block, phone numbers, etc.

After the beach a bunch of us hit the bars in town and regaled the crowd with choruses of “Sweet Caroline”, it really was a special first out-of-state event for the Mass Bay Bears.

Hosted by Paul & Bill

Randolph Country Club Pool: Big, blue, and full of Bears! The Mass Bay Bears went inland for a day of splash ‘n trash in the friendly waters of RCC. Chris was our host this time for an afternoon of lounging by the pool, bar beverages, reading premier issues of “A Bear’s Life“, and of course meeting fellas from around Eastern Mass.

All agreed - a great way to spend a lazy hot Saturday!

Hosted by Chris

Horseneck Beach: Warm sand, clear blue skies, rolling warm waves, party tunes, furry friendly fellas & flowered lei’s for all! This inagural event was hosted by Scott & Mikey and it couldn’t have been any better.

We got about three dozen hot fellas over the course of the day, plus recruits from nearby groups (flat-top fella, we’re talkin’ ’bout you!) and had a wonderful time hanging out, splashing in the waves, meeting everyone & making some new friends.

Hosted by Scott

The Alley Bar in Boston Mass. was the host for the Mass Bay Bears Kickoff Party. After months of planning we were finally ready to present the project to everyone: A grass-roots no-overhead social bear club for Eastern Massachusetts.

Hosted by The Alley Bar