Earlier this month we took the opportunity to preview the new Strathmore location for the ARGRA Rodeo, and even though we were knee-deep in snow while touring the grounds, we were surely impressed.

The potential that this new setting offers for the upcoming rodeo is simply overwhelming. Imagine a full-sized, shaded grandstand, comparable to what we have at the Calgary Stampede; a larger central arena with infield seating adjoining a full-fledged race track; a larger trailer park, and overflow that’s probably 4 to 6 times larger than what we’re used to from previous years; a portable outdoor stage; admission wickets and other small buildings for selling food and beverages. Furthermore, although the property nice and remote on the edge of town, it is adjacent to a large recreation centre with a swimming pool and other facilities, and only a short drive away from hotels, grocery stores, and bars.

We are extremely excited over this, and also to hear that ARGRA is moving ahead with our suggestion of a community Midway where groups can set up carnival games and contests to raise money. I often avoid the Midway games at the Calgary Stampede because I know they’re wallet-wipers, but if it’s going to support our community groups then it doesn’t seem like such a waste.

Near the end of February, Steve and I both went up to Edmonton to attend the much anticipated BEEF Bear Bash Bar Night. I know, the two of us in the same city on a weekend, what a concept! To be perfectly honest, I had heard so many people talking about it at the phenomenally well attended Eagle Anniversary Party the week prior that I knew it was going to be a roaring success…pardon the pun.

In fact, it was packed when we arrived at 10pm, and people told us it had been that way since 9! It was easy to feel at home with a strong attendance from Calgary, but we also got word that there were attendees from many other cities, including Vancouver! That bears would come from far and wide for this event was truly impressive – and I’m sure they weren’t at all disappointed.

A straight friend of mine asked “What happens at a BearBash, anyway?” Well let’s see…guys take their shirts off to parade around as much fur as possible; on a night like this, anything waxed is a strike against you. Beefy bodies and big bellies are revered, though muscles on a stocky frame are just as good. You don’t have to be young, loud, or “beautiful” to get noticed – the shy and modest men are often the most adorable. There’s a lot of socializing, accompanied by big hugs, fur play, and occasionally naughty groping. Basically, guys get to be themselves and celebrate their sexy nature just the way they are – fuck the shallow pretention, and the twink body type that gay men are told to envy. Steve and I felt at home – we were definitely proud to have sponsored this event.

This Month

Where are all the Lesbians? For the past couple of years we have affectionately termed our March edition as “Power Lesbian Month”, with our Jann Arden and Lily Tomlin cover in 2007, and the spunky hockey player in 2008. Unfortunately with the Vagina Monologues not running this year, it’s taken the wind out of the Power Lesbian sails. Sadly, after producing the Vagina Monologues for the past 10 years solid, Marsha needed to take a break. But don’t worry girls; we’ll get you an exciting cover (or more) for another month.

Some points of interest:

• Congratulations to Woody’s Pub in Edmonton, which is celebrating its 7th anniversary this month!

• The SHARP Foundation is holding their 4th annual Taste for Life at Gypsy Bistro and Wine Bar, right quick on March 10th. Phone in your booking for the 5:30 or 7:30 dinner service. Refer to their ad for more details.

• There are THREE College Gender-Bender-style events happening this month, put on by Queers on Campus at the University of Calgary, the Diversity Centre at Mount Royal College, and OUTreach at the University of Alberta. For details, refer to the article on page 27.

• The 4th Annual St. Patricks Day Irish Auction is happening on March 14th down at the Texas Lounge. Read the article on page 46.

• The Mr. Rubber Contest is happening on April 3rd and 4th. Check our events calendar or the Calgary Eagle website for further details as they become available.

• Apollo Western Cup is coming up in early April. Read the article on page 30 for more info.

• April is going to be crazy! The week after Western Cup is the start of the ISCCA’s Coronation Week, going from Tuesday through to Sunday.

For more event information, visit our online events calendar: www.gaycalgary.com/events

Reader Survey 2009

In my infinite wisdom, to try and prevent multiple submissions by the same person in our 2009 reader survey I programmed the form to reject duplicate phone numbers. Of course, when it comes to couples that live together in the same household, this proved to be problematic. Unfortunately, nobody said anything until we were a few days away from the survey deadline. Although we still got a great response in time for February 25th, to be fair to those who couldn’t fill out the 2009 Reader Survey due to our mix-up, we’ve lifted the restriction in our survey form and extended the deadline until March 25th. Thus, the Prize draws will also be postponed until shortly after this cut-off date – however as a thank-you to those who did persist to submit their surveys before February 25th, the 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be drawn for that pool only. The grand prize, however, is anybody’s game!

Article Shuffle

Although we’ve left the Reader Survey open for another month, we’ve already seen some pretty clear trends in the way our readers are voting. Taking into consideration how well our existing articles are read, and what new article ideas were popular, we’ve already started to bring on new types of articles for this edition. Of course we are limited to what is available to us, and some article ideas hadn’t even occurred to us when offering the possibilities in our Reader Survey. However we hope you like the new selection that we’ve added to our already broad range.

New this month are:

• Dear Jody - An advice column to pick up the reigns in Kevin Alderson’s absence (he decided to retire his regular Queer Quest column), and in a way revive the concept of our long retired “Ask Nina” column. Jody Valley writes from 12 years of experience as a clinical social worker and GLBT counselor.

• Cocktales Chatter – It’s a jungle out there in the bar scene, so this fun article covers all sorts of bar-related topics to untangle you from the vines.

• Gay Tech – A home brewed Technology column written from a GLBT perspective to help demystify, for the average person, the things us tech geeks take for granted. Steve and I draw from more than 30 years of combined professional computer experience, and we get asked enough about computer problems as it is. At the very least, this article should save us from repeating ourselves!

Note that for lack of space, the monthly Adult Film Review and Whole Lesbian Sex articles will not be appearing this month, however we intend to have them back again for April. I know it looks like an odd coincidence that both sex columns are absent, but don’t worry, we’re not succumbing to censorship!

For those who usually pass over Mercedes’ monthly Trans-Identity column, I strongly encourage you to read the 6 part series she is currently running because it is highly relevant to everyone. I have always felt that one of the most crippling disadvantages to the GLBT community is the sense that we have no history, so Mercedes’ past two articles have been a major eye-opener for me. If you missed last month’s article, then dig up your old copy or read it online. February’s article may be a little long, but it goes to show what a huge amount of information there is about GLBT people in ancient times. This month’s is about Medieval times, and gives an enlightening explanation about how and why GLBT behaviour first became unacceptable in society – not because there was something fundamentally wrong with it, but because it threatened the rising patriarchy. Go on, give it a read on page 40.

GayCalgary Website Rings

Last month we launched a new feature on the GayCalgary.com website to help unify Alberta-based GLBT websites in a new way. Though we have a pretty thorough collection of sites in our Online Directory, it doesn’t afford visitors the capability of easily touring through Alberta’s online GLBT presence.

A website ring allows you to do just this – to sequentially flip through a connected collection of websites. The GayCalgary.com website alone gets close to 2000 visitors in a day, so members can all benefit from the shared traffic that a website ring generates.

If you run or maintain a GLBT-related website, you can easily join one of our website rings by signing up at: http://www.gaycalgary.com/webring. Once you have placed the code fragment on your website to generate the Website Ring Navigation Panel, we will activate your membership.

Currently we are only offering the “Alberta GLBT Websites” ring, but we have the capability of adding more as the need arises. Note that this is a home-grown solution – no third-parties are used to provide our Website Rings service.

Another new feature that we added to the website this month are RSS feeds. If you have no clue what an RSS feed is, have no fear – it is the topic of our premiere Gay Tech column on page 42.
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