On January 20, Barack Obama’s inauguration will not be the only game in town for Washington, D.C. On the days prior to inauguration, the Centaur Motorcycle Club (CMC) will be holding its Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend.
This is something more than a handful of motorcycle enthusiasts interested in leather accessories.
The event will draw 2,000 to 3,000 attendees. The CMC is “a group of men with an enthusiastic interest in motorcycles, leather and other men.”
Yes, it is all about gay motorcyclists with a fetish for leather.
That should make for quite a pre-inaugural party.
An Obama spokeswoman said the President-elect was not likely to attend the weekend gathering.
“Let’s just say it’s likely the president-elect will be occupied with many other activities,” reported the Obama representative.
Barat, the Leather Weekend spokesman, said that some of its guests would probably be attending the inauguration too. They might even be wearing their favorite leather outfit. As Barat explained:
“We get a pretty broad range of people coming. Some are into leather, some are into denim, some are into rubber. Some skinheads, some bikers – recently we’ve gotten young guys wearing sports gear and fantasy gear, [like] full football uniforms, baseball uniforms. Pretty much the whole gamut.”
It sounds like the inauguration just became a bit wilder.
Lavish inaugural balls start during the weekend preceding the inauguration and will compete with Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend events such as Saturday evening’s Leather Cocktails and Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather Contest on Sunday afternoon.
Exhibitors at the Leather Weekend include such leather vendors as Heartwood Whips, LeChateau, makers of fetish wear, and the Bonding Co, the makers of fine leather harnesses and accessories “creating unique products and designs that will bring you years of enjoyment and pleasure.” Other vendors range from Needle Play Design for custom embroidery to the Nasty Pig, where you can get your own “Love Me Pants” to Dick Wadd, which bills itself as “the finest in bareback pig video in the world.”
With hindsight, Leather Weekend organizers realized that they should have picked another date. “Had we known it was going to be such a busy weekend, we might have scheduled otherwise,” said Barat.
Of course, it’s just a Presidential inauguration. Who would have thought there might be conflicts? After all, the real party is in leather.
