Beltway Bears, 495 Bears, and more thoughts on the DC Bear Scene

So last night after work I paid a visit to a meeting of the Beltway Bears specifically to report for this blog. There were five men in attendance on the first floor of the DC Eagle, including Bradley Hill, a.k.a Thumper Bear, who is acting as the chairman of the group until elections take place in March and owns the group’s web domain, and Mark Heckathorn, who administers the groups Facebook page and is considering a run as an “at large” officer. They are planning events and possibly a Bear run to take place in 2010, but “not in the winter!” says Thumper.

Thumper took great pains to point out that even though there are two new Bear groups forming in the DC region at the same time – the other group having virtually the same name with “495 Bears” – the groups are not at odds with one another. “As long as no one thinks it’s a competition,” he told me.  There is room for everyone.

Would a Bear Vacuum get clogged with hair?

Titan Bar

Until Titan Bar’s closing in December, 2007, which left a Bear vacuum in the national capital region, the second-story bar above Hamburger Mary’s/Dakota Cowgirl served as a central  hirsute meeting place every Friday night. Cobalt has been a recent substitute, but many Bears just don’t feel at home in the 17th street night club where the bartenders are more likely to sport shiny abs of steel than furry beer bellies.

Of the three major Bear groups in DC’s history (all of which I have at one time been a member of), only one is still active, but in smaller numbers.  District of Columbia Bear Club (DCBC) changed its focus years ago to be more of a small fraternal organization instead of a club with a large membership (pun intended). Chesapeake Bay Bears (CBB) has been off the radar for I don’t know how long. A search of Google and Yahoo found nothing new, and their website is gone.

And GenXDC, the group I am most associated with (I coordinated for a few years and I maintain our web presence), has been pretty much on hiatus. We weren’t a formal club in that we didn’t have bylaws or regular meetings, but we were pretty regular with email and events. When the web shifted away from mailing lists and towards journals, blogs, and other social interaction sites, it became tough for us to communicate as a group. I think we all felt like we needed something new in our lives, too. Though the community is still around – many of us still have dinners, vacations, and parties together – we just don’t consider ourselves an organized group.

“Beltway Bears” Structure

So this vacuum has inspired new Bear-on-Bear action in the form of two new groups. Of the three prior groups, only the Baltimore-based CBB was a chartered club with an open membership – you just pay your dues and you are in. This is how Beltway Bears are organizing themselves right away with their meetings and elections, with bylaw adoption to shortly follow.

“We’ll see how the community reacts to these new clubs,” said Nick Bullock, who is considering a run for Vice President of Beltway Bears.

“495 Bears” Structure

The 495 Bears are taking a less-structured approach, first intending to have a few Tea Dance events and others, without officers,  by-laws, membership,  newsletters, dues, or meetings. While it is inevitable that people will view this as a competition, the 495 Bears list owner also pointed out  in an e-mail to me that even the names were not on purpose. “It is rather funny about the names of these two groups but it was all coincidental and cordial,” he said. His group is focusing first on building membership instead of a charter or bear run. Without officers, dues, or membership forms, they are following the online GenXDC model: “We are taking a new approach… to keep a club relevant these days,” Jones wrote.

I’ll be blogging more about DC’s new Bear Renaissance here and at a new blog “DCBearScene.com.” which is coming soon.

Are you a Bear in the DC area and you wanna talk about what’s going on?  Write to me about becoming a blogger on  “DCBearScene.com.”

Additional notes from the Beltway Bears meeting:

Join Beltway Bears at  the newly renovated American History Museum – Mall entrance – on Saturday, February 21st at noon.

• Join the Yahoo Group List  by 11:59 p.m. on February 21st to be eligible to vote/run in elections.
• Nominations/ self-nominations must be made by by 11:59 p.m. on February 21st , 2009
• Elections will begin on February 25 and close “Super Tuesday” 11:59 p.m. on March 3.
• New officers will take their positions (pun intended) for the March meeting at the Eagle on March 4.
• Tentative outing planned for March – The US Capitol – it has a new visitor’s center.
• A Teddy Bear “Share a Bear” event is in the planning stages.

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