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Mr. Midwest Leather Contest -- April 9, 2005

On Saturday, April 9, 2005 the first annual Mr. Midwest Leather Contest was held at One Flite Up located at 44 Main Street in Dubuque, IA and the winner was Wes K. from St. Louis, MO. The first runner up was Todd McComb from Des Moines, IA, and the second runner up was Walt Oberbroeckling from Dubuque, IA. Over 300 people attended the Friday and Saturday night events including a number of dignitaries in the leather community. Kevin Menning, owner of One Flite Up (www.MrMidwestLeather.com), was the Event Host for the weekend and is looking forward to this becoming an important annual event in the Midwest for the leather community.

Master of Ceremonies, John Pendal, IML 2003 from the United Kingdom, kept everyone entertained and did a great job in pacing the Saturday evening festivities. The audience was diverse and many had never been to a leather contest before. Jon Krongaard gave a presentation on The Leather Archive museum located in Chicago, IL.  Jon related that The Leather Archive is now doing extremely well and recently paid off the mortgage on their building.  The Leather Archive houses a full collection showing the entire history of the Leather community in the world on its 2 levels in downtown Chicago.  Jon is the Vice-President of The Leather Archive and encourages anyone coming to Chicago to come on by and visit the museum.

The 50/50 raffle during the evening was a major success and the winner was Phil Nickerson of San Francisco, CA who donated the entire proceeds to the Dubuque AIDS Coalition and The Leather Archives Museum in Chicago.  The total amount was increased by a generous donation from Master of Ceremonies John Pendal.  Special thanks to IML for its generous donation to the raffle. The Contest started at 10:45 pm on Saturday April 9th and ended at 12:30 am. The judges for the Contest were Philip Dietch of St. Louis, MO who was Head Judge, Scott Bloom from Studio City, CA, Jon Krongaard from Chicago, IL, Special Judge Marcus Hernandez (Mr. Marcus) from San Francisco and the Bay Area Reporter, Kurt Pierce of Dubuque, IA (formerly Long Beach, CA), Mark Bozif of St. Louis, MO, and Dean Ogren of Chicago, IL.

The TallyMasters were Spencer Jasper from St. Louis, MO and Phil Nickerson from San Francisco, CA. The Den Daddies were Joee Arteaga from Chicago, IL and Rick Sanders from Long Beach, CA. The winner, Wes K., will go on to represent Mr. Midwest Leather at the 2005 IML (International Mr. Leather) Contest to be held Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, IL. Wes can be reached via email at mrmidwestlthr05@aol.com. All contestants did a great job with the contest and kept the crowd well entertained for the night. Wes was presented with a sash, title vest, medallion, $500 cash prize, and fully paid accommodations for the weekend.

Special thanks go to the Holiday Inn in Dubuque, IA for being our gracious host hotel, 665 Leather from Los Angeles, CA for the sash and title vest, Daddy's Den Leather, the Bay Area Reporter, the Leather Journal, Edge Magazine, radio station 105 in Dubuque, IA, and Chuck Windemuth of the Kennel Club in Chicago, IL, as well as "Mother" for all of his help in staging this event at One Flite Up. Kevin of Daddy's Den Leather in St. Louis, MO set up a very large display with an amazing array of leather gear which was enjoyed by all.

Event Producer, Kurt Pierce, was very pleased with the turnout and thanks all involved in making this first-ever contest both a reality and a great success!  For further information on this Contest please contact Kurt Pierce via email at Kurt@MrMidwestLeather.com or you may call him at (563) 582-8357.

This contest was open to contestants from Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.  On April 8th, a Leather & Lace Drag Show followed the Meet & Greet stating at 11:00 pm, and on Saturday night the 9th following the Contest there was a DJ Dance Party at One Flite Up. The capacity of One Flite Up is over 300 people and it was filled both nights. This very first Mr. Midwest Leather contest opens new opportunities for contestants in the Midwest Leather community to field an entrant into the widely acclaimed Mr. International Leather Contest. One Flite Up cordially thanks all who attended and made this a great success.

For more information, please see the excellent article on this event by Special Judge Mr. Marcus at http://www.mamasfamily.org/MisterMarcus.htm