FurFest check presentation

Larry Dickinson founder of FurFest and the East Coast Bears (pictured on the right) presents Jo Lang of AIDS New Brunswick with a cheque in the amount of $3,600. This amount was raised by FurFest.

We wish to thank those who attended Furfest from all over the world and gave so generously.

FurFest... the end of an era

Shortly after I discovered bears in 1996, I attended Bear Bust in Florida. It was an eye-opening experience to socialize with so many men like me. I had an amazing time and felt there was a need for a similar event in this part of the world.

FurFest was born. That first year, we quietly spread the word and attracted 34 people. For many years, we kept the event “in the closet” in fear of reprisal from the straight community.

Over the years we fine-tuned FurFest with suggestions from those who attended. We gained a reputation as being a small, friendly, quality event. We grew to become the largest bear party in the country, attracting folks from all over Canada, the USA, and even some from overseas.

In recent years, we have received tremendous support from the City of Fredericton, the Crowne Plaza and the local business community. FurFest has gone from the closet to a mainstream community event.

But all good things must come to an end. We feel it’s time for us to enjoy a summer vacation and travel to other bear events.

Planning and executing FurFest to make it run smoothly has been a great deal of work for three people. After the loss of our good friend James last fall, Jason and I decided this will be the final event.

FurFest was a dream, a hope, a desire to provide a social gathering which felt more like a family reunion than a convention. I think we succeeded.

We wish to thank you for attending and for your support and generosity over the years. We have made some wonderful friends from all over the world. The welcome mat is always out at our den if you are in the area and would like to visit us.

Larry & Jason

Fall Update

It's been some time since I posted any photos of myself. Last December, Jason and I went on a much-needed diet. In 6 months, I reached my goal and even lost a bit more, just as a buffer. The total weight loss was 77 pounds and I feel much better. I dropped from a 44 to a 36 inch waist. We're eating healthy, finally. Best of all, I am off the meds I had to take for my Type-2 Diabetes. Jason is still dieting, but losing every week. I still have a belly and lots of fur, so hopefully I won't get kicked out of the 'Daddy Bear Club". We have taken a few new pics which are in the "Photo" section of our home page.
With fall arriving soon and the leaves turning, I hope we can get some new outdoor pictures. I hate to see winter come and Jason loves it. I guess it is because he grew up in Labrador, not known for their warm summers. I think summer in Labrador is July 30th. Then it snows! Truly, he enjoys the cold weather. Me? I'd rather cuddle up inside and work on the computer or one of my web sites.

My business, Sight And Sound has been very busy lately and will continue to be during the run up to Christmas. I transfer old 8mm and Super8 home movie film to DVD, but that is just one of the services I provide. A lot of people have old VHS or 8MM Camcorder takes of their kids and want them dumped to DVD to preserve them. This summer I bought a duplicator and can copy CD's and DVD's in bulk. I produce radio shows in my studio, restore old vinyl and copy it to CD, plus a bunch of other stuff. Check out my web site and see how I spend my time.

Summer Update

Summer finally arrived here in New Brunswick after a very cool spring. We usually get about three weeks of unbelievable humid weather in July and early August but not this year. About a week ago it warmed up and temperatures hit the 90's! Global warming has certainly changed our weather in this area. Winters are milder with a lot less snow, which I'm happy about.

This week, I lost a good friend and former boss. Jack was the manager of the radio station I worked at for 22 years. He was an imposint man, over 6 feet tall, always wore a three-piece suit and was highly respected by everyone who ever met or know of him. Besides being a pioneer broadcaster in this country, he was an avid conservationist and worked most of his lifetime trying to protect the Atlantic Salmon stocks. He was stern, but fair and I had the utmost respect for him. He had diabetes for many years and struggled with the complications which accompany it which lead to his death. He was in his 80's and I'll miss his occasional phone calls and hearing that booming voice asking me to do something for him. RIP Jack.

Next week, Aug 2-5th, we're hosting the 12th and final www.furfest.ca event. Jason and I finished work Friday and are on vacation for the next two weeks. We spent one of those weeks doing FurFest, leaving a few days for our own personal holidays. We enjoy hosting FurFest and will miss it a lot, but its time to let it go. What we'll miss the most is the friendly men to come all the way to New Brunswick every year for this "family reunion" type event. We have made some wonderful friends and hope they will still come to visit us, and now we will have time to travel and visit their part of the country. There is still much to do before we pile everything in to the car and move to the hotel for the event, but the most of it is complete. We can't wait to see some of our old friends again and renew friendships and get those warm hugs.

After FurFest, we may be going on a whale watching day-trip in St. Andrews with two of our buddies from New York. We're looking forward to spending time with them. August 12th will be our second wedding anniversary so I'd like to do something special for Jason. We've been together ten years this summer and I love him more and more every day. I'm so happy that we could finally be legally married. I never thought I would see that happen in my lifetime, but ya gotta love Canada! We rock! I get email from friends in the USA who envy us and want to move here. Maybe without George W things will improve.

We have friends from Baltimore in the city for FurFest, who we went to dinner with last night. They are dropping over this afternoon for a visit so its time to get back to FurFest stuff before they arrive.

Diet Update... I reached my goal on June 12th, 6 months on the diet and I lost 77 pounds! I am currently at 217 pounds. Jason and I used to wear each others clothes. We were 2X and almost a 3X in shirts. Now I'm into an XL shirt and we both wear 36" pants and are walking over 3 km at least 2 or 3 times a week!

The Weight Loss

On December 12th, Jason and I decided, on the advise of our doctor, to lose some weight. We, like most bears, love food and enjoy it to excess. Jason's blood pressure went up last fall to a dangerous level and the doctor had put him on pills to try to get it back down. I have type two diabetes and sleep apnia and had to wear a CPAP machine when I went to bed. We both KNEW we were overweight, but didn't worry too much about it. It was actually Jason who kicked me in the arse and said, let's do something about our weight.

Our doctor suggested "Simply For Life (SFL)", which is a very successful diet program, so we went to visit them and signed up. Aaron, our advisor, is a young well-built guy who used to be in the same shape we were, but changed his life with SFL. He was very friendly and encouraging.

The diet was much harder for Jason than me because he isn't a vegetable eater. He's a meat and potatoes (and gravy) guy who loves his chocolate and sweets. I, on the other hand like most foods. We had to eliminate potatoes, corn and peas totally from our diet. We can have lots of other veggies, meat, fish, poultry. Eggbeaters, brown rice and whole wheat pasta are staples. But you get lots of snacks, mid-morning, afternoon and even a small bad of smart-popcorn for a tv snack.

It's been just over three months, and I'm happy to report that so far, I have lost just over 51 pounds and Jason almost 47, and we feel great! Jason is off the blood pressure pills and the doctor has reduced the number of pills I take for the diabetes daily. Oh, and the CPAP machine has been put away. I don't stop breathing in my sleep anymore. I only have to lose 18 more pounds to reach my goal. I've dropped 4 inches off my waist size and have had to dig out the skinny clothes again. I'm glad I kept some of them. But I hope, this will be the last time I have to diet and we can maintain it after we reach our goals.

It's amazing now how little food it takes fill us and how much more energy we have. We're getting there... wish us luck.

Florida Vacation... all alone!

We had decided to take a winter vacation to Florida and booked everything in April 2006. During the summer, several projects we did on our home took a lot of cash to do. So, we decided not to take the trip. Later we decided to change the tickets to a September visit to Wisconsin to visit our good friend Jay. We were told the tickets had to be used by April 2007. So, Jay is coming to visit us and he and Jason are going to Newfoundland. Jay's goal is to visit every Canadian province so he will be able to scratch one more off his list. My ticket to Florida was all paid for and just sitting there, so Jason suggested that, rather than throw it all away, I should go. Alone!

I decided to make the journey. I arrived, picked up the rental and felt like a lost sheep. Trying to figure out the maze of roads and exits alone without a navigator was hell, but I somehow managed to get to my cousin's place. Oh yes, she lives here too and wanted me to go buy her a new computer. Hers had many viruses and was a windoze 98 OS. We got the computer, set it up, and waited for the cable company to come and connect the high speed a couple of days later. I left and want to our friends home.

It was great to get away from the very cold Canadian winter, the coldest February I can remember. Florida felt warm and our friends David and Eric always are wonderful hosts and make their home available to us when we're down. But, they work, as do most people I know here, leaving me all by myself all day. I'm terrified of the traffic and going to the theme parks alone is no fun. God I missed having Jason with me.

I did have a couple of very nice bears I had met through the internet many years ago, take the day off work to spend the day with me at Universal. They even went out of their way to come and pick me up and take me to the park. We had a wonderful day together. Bob is like a little kid and loves to ride the coasters. We're much alike. Mike doesn't like coasters but did go on several rides with us. He would it on the bench and wait for us. I thought how nice it would have been if Jason had been there with him since he doesn't like coasters either. We rode the Hulk 3 times and the Duelling Dragons once. We walked all the way through BOTH parks. It was in the 80's without a could in the sky. It turned out to be the BEST day of my whole vacation.

Almost every night, I call Jason to hear his voice and tell him how much I love and miss him. I didn't realize how lonely I'd feel without him. Even though I had a great day at the park and David and Eric are super hosts, it hasn't been much fun this week here alone. I have felt so empty this week it hurts. I've decided I'm never going to take a solo vacation again, ever.

On another point... We've decided this year will be the last FurFest ( http://www.furfest.ca ) we're going to do. It will be #12 and that's enough. We're tired and burned out with all the work that's involved in organizing a party for well over 100 bears each summer. Not to mention it takes a week of our holidays. Next year, we can have that time to travel and enjoy OUR summer. I feel I've accomplished what I set out to do. We started with 30 bears in my back yard when FurFest began and have now become Canada's Biggest Bear Party! Not just that, we went from a very private function to a point where the City of Fredericton is involved as a sponsor or our event. We were courted for three years by the Crowne Plaza to move our event there and finally did last year. We have made many great friends who have returned year after year to support the event. We hate to let it go, but it's time to move on. I hope to see many of you return this year for the last bash. Let's go out with a bang.

Larry

Hi. Thanks for dropping by.

It seems everybody these days has a blog. So I thought I'd join the masses and use this space to occasionally ramble. Jason says I talk to much anyway, so consider this therapy for me, and you can be my shrink. I hope you don't charge by the hour!

You probably found the link on our home page which brought you here, so I won't go into detail about Jason, Grover or me. Most of our story was found there. I will say that it's amazing how many emails I receive from guys out there who read my story and understand completely. They are in the same situation and for some reason, seem to find hope from my life story. I always appreciate receiving these heart-warming letters and it makes me proud to have been a source of inspiration for some people.

So for now, I'll say "thanks for dropping by" and when it's not so late, I'll have another session.

Hugs...
Larry