
LUXURIA, Budapest: one of April’s Covid cancellations, now rescheduled for sometime in October (photo: csabasomogyi.eu)
More Covid cancellations and postponements of fetish events
More fetish events in the UK, Europe and North America have been cancelled, postponed or otherwise repurposed since last week’s report on changes affecting May’s three big international fetish weekends. Here, we highlight a selection of Covid cancellations and other changes – confirmed or likely – flagged up via our sister website TheFetishistasDirectory.com in the last two weeks or so. For clarity we’ve split the events into regions and countries. Banner image by Tony Mitchell: Zara DuRose (left), who has had to cancel two ZDR summer events in the UK
UNITED KINGDOM
KLUB VERBOTEN (above) has transformed its May 8 Non-Members party into an online two-parter
Klub Verboten Non-Members: May 8
MOVED ONLINE TO MAY 9 & MAY 11
Replacing Klub Verboten’s original Non-Members’ event on May 8, this Verboten vs Virus two-parter will start with 69Mbps live action on Saturday 9 in London at 9pm, Berlin at 10pm and New York at 4pm. Monday 11’s Part 2 will offer Aftercare chat. Tickets free or with donation, from Dice.
klubverbvoten.com/verboten-vs-virus
LAM London Alternative Market: May 3
MOVED ONLINE
LAM, originally monthly, will now stream a free weekly event every Sunday from May 3 on YouTube. Online stalls will offer corsets, latex, leather, feathers, floggers, paddles, collars, wax and more, with talks, demos and interviews too. Also available: £5 vouchers for future live LAM events.
youtube.com/c/londonalternativemarket
ZDR Gods & Monsters: June 20
CANCELLED
Zara DuRose (pictured left in the banner at the top) has decided to cancel her birthday event at Scala, saying: “With the current climate around Covid-19, we’ve decided it’s best not to plan any big scale events in London at present.” Refunds are available via the ticketing system.
facebook.com/events/zdr-gods-monsters
ZDR Wonderland 2: July 25
POSTPONED TO JULY 31 2021
ZDR was hoping to go ahead with its Wonderland 2/ Through The Looking Glass event in Coventry as it’s a smaller capacity event. But this too has just been cancelled and will return in 2021. Refunds are available, or 2020 tickets can be transferred to the 2021 event.
facebook.com/events/wonderland-2
EUROPE
WASTELAND SUMMERFEST (above): impossible with current restrictions (photo: Heinrich v Schimmer)
HUNGARY
Luxuria Party: April 18
POSTPONED TO OCTOBER (DATE TBA)
This five-year-old Budapest gathering has been shunted back to October at the same venue, Symbol Budapest. No actual date has yet been announced, even though advance tickets appear to be available via the website.
luxuriaparty.hu
ITALY
Ritual – Torture Garden Italy: May 30
STILL ON, SO FAR
At time of writing, the Torture Garden Italy weekend due to be hosted by Ritual at the end of May is shown as “on”. However, given the
torturegardenitaly.com
NETHERLANDS
Wasteland Summerfest: July 4
CANCELLED
Amsterdam’s alternative outdoor summer party has been cancelled, says Wasteland’s website, because Dutch restrictions on events have been extended until September 1 — though cancellation is not yet shown on its Facebook listing. The host is currently “considering the possible options”.
wastelandsummerfest.com
NORTH AMERICA
TORTURE GARDEN NEW YORK was due to feature a latex fashion show by Dead Lotus Couture, above
UNITED STATES
Fetish Con 2020: August 13-17
POSTPONED TO AUGUST 12-15 2021
Having previously been postponed from April to August, Florida’s 2020 edition of Fetish Con in St Petersburg has now been cancelled and will reconvene in August 2021. The organisers are offering the option of a refund or having your registration transferred to the 2021 event.
fetishcon.com
GWNN Bash 2020: July 24-26
MAYBE ON, MAYBE OFF
Website of this BDSM convention in Austin TX has been showing it as “on” for late July. But on GWNN’s Facebook page, a lengthy Covid statement says “for the time being we will not be hosting any public, in-person gatherings of any kind during the ongoing crisis”. To summarise: website she say yes; Facebook he say no. Facebook probably wins.
gwnnaustin.com
Torture Garden New York: June 27
POSTPONED (DATE TBA)
Following cancellation of NYC Pride 2020, TGNY, which was due to take place during Pride Weekend, has been postponed. It’s too early yet to set a new date, says host Dances of Vice, but it hopes for more clarity on the options “as pandemic conditions unfold over the following weeks”.
dancesofvice.com
CANADA
Vancouver Fetish Weekend: July 23-27
POSTPONED TO SUMMER 2021
While British Columbia has been relatively lightly affected by Covid-19, VFW’s hosts say they recognise that large gatherings like VFW will not be possible before summer’s end. And, with air travel also limited, they’ve decided to postpone VFW until next summer, while hoping to resume their smaller Sin City Fetish Nights soon.
vancouverfetishweekend.com
AND FINALLY: POSTPONEMENTS – A CAUTIONARY FOOTNOTE
It’s important to understand that any new dates such as those above, specified by event organisers when announcing postponements, are generally based only on the best guesses the hosts can make now about the shape of coronavirus restrictions in the coming months.
It is already the case that some events that have been postponed once have had to be postponed for a second time. This may happen a lot more, since the only thing we can be sure of right now is that everything is still pretty uncertain.
Because of continuing uncertainty, it could transpire in a couple of months’ time that, for example, postponing the Florida Fetish Weekend and the German Fetish Ball Weekend “only” until September was in fact over-optimistic.
We hope not, obviously, but the possibility has to be acknowledged.
It’s true that the chatter about returning to normal is getting louder, and that some cities and countries have announced some relaxation of some restrictions.
But we should bear in mind that any moves in that direction are being made with due regard to the need, largely, for social distancing to continue.
Gatherings where social distancing cannot be effectively enforced — such as club-based events — are likely to be among the very last categories of activity to benefit from any relaxation of the rules.
To put it another way, just because some kids may be allowed back to school and museums may re-open in certain places does not mean that authorities will allow events like fetish nights to resume at the same time. There is always hope, of course, but it must be weighed against realistic expectations.
Tags: Community, Date changes, Fetish Parties, Health