FANGS FOR FLORIDA: Val Vampyre, a performer at Florida Fetish Weekend, one of the big May fetish weekends now postponed until September (photo: James Holmes Photography)
May fetish weekends postponed: Berlin, Florida and maybe Munich
This year’s clash of dates of three big May fetish weekends has been resolved. Coronavirus restrictions in Germany and the USA have obliged the hosts of two of them – German Fetish Ball Weekend and Florida Fetish Weekend – to postpone to different dates in September. Meanwhile BoundCon, third of the May trio, is awaiting a ruling by the Mayor of Munich that will see it either going ahead as planned or cancelling until 2021. Tony Mitchell reveals the new dates and what he knows about each host’s thinking – including one unexpected change of direction. Banner by TM: Das Fräulein Fuchs and Kari Berg at the 2019 German Fetish Ball
Two of the three international fetish weekends scheduled for the same dates this May have postponed their events until September 2020. The third, meanwhile, may skip 2020 altogether and reconvene next year.
Fetish Factory’s Florida Fetish Weekend — its 25thanniversary event — was the first of the May fetish weekends to announce a change of dates.
The five-day FFW programme, due to take place on May 20-24, has time-shifted in its entirety to new dates around America’s Labor Day Weekend: Wednesday–Sunday September 2-6, 2020.
All events in the original Florida programme will still take place on the same days of the week at the same venues around Fort Lauderdale. Only the month has changed.
All FFW venues and hotels have been guaranteed for the new dates, so all tickets and existing hotel reservations/room assignments made through Fetish Factory will “roll over seamlessly” says the organiser.
Anyone who can’t make it to some or all of the new FFW dates and needs to cancel or change their event and/or hotel arrangements will be able to do so from July 15 by emailing the host.
German Fetish Ball Weekend was the next of the May fetish weekends to postpone. Organiser Xklusiv confirmed its new dates to The Fetishistas on April 19 — the date set by the German Government to renew or amend its existing lockdown restrictions.
Xklusiv was looking at two options for postponing from its original Berlin dates of May 20-24, and has gone with September 10-13. This means a
programme of four days (Thu–Sun) rather than the usual five since there is no public holiday at this time.
The German Fetish Ball, Fetish Fair and FetishGuerilla Revolution party will all retain their traditional programme days and venues.
Negotiations to hold Sonic Boom at Matrix on Thursday were in progress at the time of writing, and the fate of smaller supporting events will be announced in due course.
René of Xklusiv promises that the company will “take back tickets that can’t be used”. German law permits vouchers for a future event to be issued against unusable tickets. But, he says, “we would make too many of our regular guests unhappy” if Xklusiv just offered vouchers rather than giving refunds.
Munich BDSM/fetish fest BoundCon — third of the May fetish weekends — was due to officially relaunch in 2.0 form this year under new ownership, after a carefully managed two-year transition.
New owner Minuit-Event’s latest announcement (also on April 19) says it is still awaiting a decision by the Mayor of Munich about if a review of local restrictions will permit BoundCon to happen on May 22-24.
Since this was supposed to be the big relaunch, Minuit has stated that if May 22-24 is not possible, it will skip BoundCon 2020 altogether and relaunch next year on Whit Weekend (May 21-23, 2021).
Minuit promises that in the event BoundCon 2020 is cancelled, tickets held for 2020 will automatically be valid for 2021, without the need to do anything. Holders of 2020 tickets who can’t use them in 2021 will be “welcome to resell them”, it adds.
Final Florida Fetish Weekend: now September 2-6, 2020
GEAR CHANGE: Glenn Catapano and partner Donna, hosts of Fetish Factory’s Florida Fetish Weekend
The news that Florida Fetish Weekend was postponing until early September was no great surprise given the coronavirus situation in the States.
But many people were shocked to see that the postponement announcement stated that this 25thanniversary event would also be “Florida Farewell Fetish Weekend”.
Could it really be the last of these famous May fetish weekends — which started life as Fetish Factory Anniversary celebrations 15 years ago?
Yes, says Glenn Catapano, who owns Fetish Factory and co-hosts its legendary parties with his partner Donna. Why? Because the anniversary weekend has apparently become a victim of its own success.
This year, even before its traditional last-minute crowd came onboard, FFW had broken all previous records with a projected combined revenue from tickets sales and hotel room sales of more than $500,000.
“The event has become too big to manage,” Glenn explains. “We have created such an amazing 100 percent fetish hotel experience that people young and old are finding more fun and connectivity at our notorious fetish hotel.
“There is no other huge fetish gathering like our fetish weekend in a tropical setting, and the people coming to it from all over the world seem to be caring less about the banging nightclub experience, which you can get anywhere in the world.
“But what you cannot get in the rest of the world is a 100 percent pure fetish, four-star premium Westin brand hotel with a complete dungeon and three DJ systems in the dungeon, lobby and poolside.”
As a result, it appears, his anniversary weekend crowd has been leaving the club venues early and partying at the hotel instead.
“The clubs are open late and I have a responsibility to these clubs,” says Glenn – by which he means a responsibility not to create a rival, or indeed more powerful attraction with his ‘pure fetish hotel’.
But Fetish Factory does not plan to completely abandon its Memorial Day Weekend slot.
“What we want to do is change gears,” Glenn explains. “I am looking to scale down the event to maybe three days. I want a smaller hotel and I want an event that is not focused on huge banging nightclubs.”
So he’s looking to go for a more exclusive fetish party — a posh hotel where the focus is on the hotel and the party people at the hotel.
“We would do a 24/7 fetish hotel house party. I am looking for more engagement with the crowd so there will be a lot more debauchery in the hotel 24/7.
“We will have day and night pool parties and fetish dinner parties with themes. It will be a great departure after 15 years of insanity!
“If we get the September event done we will instantly announce FW26 which will be a departure from a five-day weekend and go back to a three-day weekend at a smaller hotel — although we may continue with Westin as it is beautiful.
“We will do 1 huge fetish ball but the rest of the parties will be inside the hotel though not in a ballroom. It’ll be more like people partying in all the common areas of the hotel, and a separate crowd partying outside at the pool with multiple DJs.”
In addition to revamping its May fetish weekends, Fetish Factory plans to continue hosting its monthly Alter Ego and XFP fetish parties, says Catapano.
Because these parties pull crowds no larger than 500 people, he anticipates that they’ll be “under the radar” even if Covid restrictions remain in place for larger events.
“We also hope to take the show on the road and do at least four circuit parties in other cities,” he adds.
This year’s date change for Florida Fetish Weekend unfortunately pitches it into a head-on clash with another popular North American event — Canada’s Montreal Fetish Weekend (September 2-8).
Quite a few Americans, Canadians and members of the international fetish crowd normally aim to attend both weekends. So some fetish folk are likely to have some painful choices to make this year.
German Fetish Ball Weekend: now September 10-13, 2020
KITKAT QUEENS: Dani Divine and HoH’s Iris Trika at FetishGuerilla 2019 party (photo: Tony Mitchell)
Although Germany has so far achieved a much higher level of coronavirus protection for its citizens than the UK for example, industry insiders were predicting that the GFB in May would be cancelled or postponed long before April 19’s statement confirmed it.
This was the date for reviewing existing national restrictions, and it initially seemed clear from Angela Merkel’s statement that an event like German Fetish Ball Weekend could not go ahead in May.
At the same time, however, there was ambiguity around what legally constituted a “major event” in Germany, as the federal government and individual local administrations didn’t always agree.
Insiders also pointed out that even if the GFB were technically able to go ahead within whatever attendance limits were in place in Berlin, there were other factors that could affect people’s ability or willingness to attend.
For international visitors in particular, travel restrictions and fears of being stuck in a foreign city and unable to get home would surely have put some of
the bravest globetrotters off attending this year’s May fetish weekends — potentially turning these big international events into much more local affairs.
Moving the GFB to September leaves time for things to improve — if they’re ever going to. Although, in the absence of a vaccine, it should be remembered that things can only improve so much.
If Xklusiv can secure Matrix (or an equivalent venue) for Thursday night’s traditional Sonic Boom party, GFB 2020 would retain its three main parties and the two-day German Fetish Fair.
Whether there would be an attempt to squeeze Kinky Cocktails into Thursday’s schedule, or retain Thursday’s cruise and dinner from the last couple of years, is not yet known.
Incidentally, assuming GFB 2021 returns to its regular Ascension Day Weekend slot, it will take place on May 12–16, 2021. That means next year’s May weekends — GFB (12-16), BoundCon (21-23) and whatever Fetish Factory does on Memorial Day Weekend (29-31) — will not clash. Praise the Lord!
BoundCon 2.0: might be delayed until May 21-23, 2021
STEEL APPEAL: Nadia White is due to appear at BoundCon 2.0 launch, which may be delayed by a year
Autumn 2018 saw the start of the BoundCon 2.0 project, intended to ensure a smooth takeover of BoundCon by Claudia Linder’s Minuit-Event company from original owner Andreas Vötterl (who will continue as a “mentor and active supporter”).
Everything was on target for BoundCon 2.0 to première this May with a “top class line-up of artists” and a “great and interesting mix of exhibitors and acts”. And then coronavirus happened.
Although, according to Minuit, a nationally-imposed limit of 5,000 people per day could have allowed BoundCon to go ahead, Germany’s federal system means that the local administration — in this case the Mayor of Munich — gets the final say.
And at time of writing (April 21) the event organiser is still awaiting the Mayor’s decision.
BoundCon was one of three May fetish weekends scheduled for the same dates this year — a clash that would inevitably have had some effect on attendances at each.
But since Florida Fetish Weekend and German Fetish Ball Weekend have now both been postponed until September, Minuit might be tempted to stick with BoundCon’s original dates (if legally permitted) as it would now have a clear run at the original May weekend.
However, even with the field clear of rivals in May, it would still be a gamble that the première of BoundCon 2.0 could achieve its full potential.
The concern would surely be: how many people will really be ready to pitch themselves into a full-on, not-social-distancing-type event in just over one month’s time — even if they’ve already bought tickets?
On the other hand, my understanding is that the takeover of BoundCon by Minuit has involved a very substantial investment.
So if Minuit’s financial health were dependent on relaunching this May, it’s understandable that holding off for another year could easily appear to be the least attractive option.
RETAIL THERAPY: View of the exhibitor space at BoundCon, which usually hosts around 100 vendors
Below are website and Facebook links for the three May fetish weekends featured above. You can can find currently known postponement details for these and other events originally scheduled for late April and beyond in The Fetishistas Directory. See also our earlier Fetishistas article: Covid Crisis vs Fetish Events.
German Fetish Ball Weekend/Facebook
The Fetishistas/Covid-Crisis-Fetish-Events
The Fetishistas Directory
Tags: Date changes, Fetish Weekends, Health, Legal
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