(Published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #464, March 14, 2013)
Kyle Truss and Tommy Rosengren were the two competitors in this year’s Mr. Twin Cities Leather contest weekend, with Truss being awarded the title and sash. Twin Cities Leather, the new leather-and-gear store in Minneapolis, presented a weekend-long slate of events in connection with this year’s contest.
The weekend started Friday night, Feb. 15, with a “Meet the Candidates” event followed by a Black Party. The main event, the Mr. Twin Cities Leather Contest, took place Saturday evening, Feb. 16. The contest was followed by “LeatherBOMB! A Victory Party” with DJ MF.
Sunday, Feb. 17 brought a Leather Brunch sponsored and prepared by Cuppa Java, followed by a victory beer bust. All events were held at The Saloon in Minneapolis, one of the weekend’s sponsors.
Saturday night’s contest and show included judged segments in leather image; onstage question and answer; speech; and talent. In the onstage question-and-answer segment, Truss was asked by one judge, “What are you most afraid of?” His answer: “In all honesty—this, right now,” referring to being onstage before the crowd at the Saloon.
Truss’ talent presentation combined a magic trick using a deck of cards with electrical torture featuring a big, industrial-strength, nasty-looking electrical switch. Rosengren’s talent portion was a demonstration of how to make the perfect banana split—using an accomplice’s bare chest as the serving vessel. To conclude his talent demonstration, Rosengren invited members of the audience to sample his ice-cream creation.
Emcees for the weekend were Karri Plowman, one of the three co-owners of Twin Cities Leather, and Camille Collins. Entertainment Friday and Saturday evenings was provided by Chanda Lehr. The entire weekend was dedicated to the memory of the late David Olaf Brown, a/k/a Danielle Charbonneau.
Contest judges were Andrew Bertke, Atons of Minneapolis; Tynan Fox, Twin Cities Leather; Tony Halverson, The Saloon; Daniel Hennagir, Mr. Twin Cities Leather 2011; and your humble columnist. Tallymaster was Randy Ingram; Den Daddy (contestant handler) was Bud Lile, assisted by Jayson Glynn.
Another sponsor of the Mr. Twin Cities Leather weekend was Fuck Water lubes, many samples of whose products were handed out during the weekend. Lavender Magazine was the weekend’s media sponsor.
Truss will represent Twin Cities Leather and Minnesota’s leather community as he competes in the 35th annual International Mr. Leather contest (<www.imrl.com>), May 24-27, 2013 (Memorial Day weekend) in Chicago.
