 The
Basics
Is Hairrison a charitable event?
Why don’t you have a contest or a club like
lots of other bear runs?
Why doesn’t Hairrison list itself on Bear411.com?
How is Hairrison organized and how can I get involved?
When was the first Hairrison?
How many people attend?
Why the move to Labor Day Weekend?
Why the move down to 12th Street?
What about the future location and date?
Why doesn’t Hairrison take money from bare-back
video companies?
The Basics
The Annual Hairrison Street Fair takes place on Sunday of Labor Day Weekend from 11am-6pm on Harrison Street between 11th and 13th (in front of
the Eagle Tavern). It features entertainment, food and drink stands and
a variety of non-profit and business exhibitors. The fair is organized
by PrideWorks, a volunteer-based 501c3 non profit organization based in
San Francisco. The fair serves the community and supports a variety of
charitable agencies each year.
Back to Top
Is Hairrison a charitable
event?
Yes. We are organized as a non-profit organization and each year select
several organizations to raise funds for, principally through our beverage
partners program. This year’s beneficiaries include The AIDS Housing
Alliance, The SF Gay Mens Chorus, and The Spitfire Softball Team. While
our event is small compared to other, more established, gay fairs, we
are proud to have the highest per capita giving of any gay fair in San
Francisco and look to increase our level of giving every year. In our
first three years we have given away over $30,000 in cash and over $10,000
in in-kind contributions.
Back to Top
Why don’t you have
a contest or a club like lots of other bear runs?
When we created Hairrison we were very careful to respect what had already
been created for our community by Bears of San Francisco (BOSF) and Lazy
Bear Weekend. We wanted our event to be a complimentary addition to the
scene so we purposely chose late August as our original date since it
was six months opposite IBR. We also chose not to have any kind of contest
and we chose not to start up a club since these were already being well
done by BOSF, which we support and many of our volunteers are actively
involved with. We also did not focus on large-scale fundraising since
Lazy Bear was one month before us and we view it as our community’s
major fundraising drive of the year.
Back to Top
Why doesn’t Hairrison
list itself on Bear411.com?
We feel strongly that the Bear Community should embrace diversity and
openness, welcoming all who seek to participate in our community regardless
of race or physical features. This openness also extends to freedom of
expression and a regard for privacy rights as well. In light of ongoing,
arbitrary restrictions to membership and invasive censorship by the owners
of the site, which we feel are incompatible with our policies as an organization
and our aspirations and beliefs for the community, we have declined to
list ourselves on bear411.com at this time.
Back to Top
How is Hairrison organized
and how can I get involved?
Although PrideWorks employs a part-time person as well as temporary, seasonal
staff, the majority of the work is carried out by volunteers. We are always
on the lookout for help, both on committees and for shifts during our
events. If you want to find out more, go to our volunteer
page.
Back to Top
When was the first Hairrison?
The first fair took place in 2004.
Back to Top
How many people attend?
Over 5,000 fun, hairy and hunky guys attend the fair. Many more thousands
attend our week of events surrounding the fair.
Back to Top
Why the move to Labor Day
Weekend?
In 2006 we moved from mid-August to the first weekend in September (Labor
Day Weekend) to accommodate a date change by Lazy Bear Weekend, which
moved from from mid-July to the first weekend in August. Lazy Bear organizers
decided to make their date change permanent, so we are continuing with
the Labor Day Wekeend. We realize that this conflicts with travel get-away
plans for some, but it makes travel much easier for others to come and
visit San Francisco. Besides being a better travel window (especially
form the East Coast), some of the other benefits include better weather
and lower hotel rates. It also gives us a whole day off after the fair
to recover!
Back to Top
Why the move down to 12th
Street?
In 2006, just a couple of weeks before our event, CalTrans announced
that the Bay Bridge would be closed over the Labor Day Weekend as part
of massive earthquake retrofit construction efforts on the bridge. In
response to the prospect of traffic congestion resulting from the closure
and the effect it could have on South-of-Market businesses, we were told
by the City to move our fair away from 9th Street down to 11th. It was
a scramble, but the move actually worked out just fine — although
we were also forced to cancel our events at the Best Western Hotel which
was terribly disappointing. Thanks to wonderful support from the community,
the move ended up working out just fine. In fact, it worked out better
for us in many ways. The new site proved to be easier on residents and
businesses in the area and our bill for police and traffic management
actually went down.
Back to Top
What about the future location
and date?
Our original vision was to one day extend from The Stud at 9th Street
all the way down to the Eagle at 13th street. This remains our long range
goal, but we’re just going to have to do it in reverse. Within the
next decade, in time for the reopening of the new bridge, we hope to grow
backwards to 9th Street and include the LoneStar Saloon and the Best Western
Hotel (Camp Hairrison) once again. As for the date, we think that the
benefits of Labor Day Weekend outweigh the drawbacks, so for now we’re
sticking with it. Some have suggested moving it back later into September,
and that is always a possible discussion to have. But not for this year.
Back to Top
Why doesn’t Hairrison
take money from bare-back video companies?
We believe in personal choice and the rights of human beings to express
themselves. This includes men making personal choices about their bodies,
their health and their sexuality. We also believe in free speech and free
enterprise. However, we feel just as strongly that community organizations
like ours have a responsibility to encourage a safe-sex culture in order
to reduce and eliminate Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). It is a
complex issue, but we feel that accepting money from, or allowing our
fair to be used in, the promotion of un-safe sex — even in video
— is inconsistent with this value.
Back to Top
|
