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Florida Fetish Weekend, October 31 – November 2, 2008 has been cancelled due to lack of community support.

In order to keep the record straight and push off as much rumors as possible we have written the below statement and history of the problems that have been faced over the last few years.

The event was heavily criticized from the beginning starting with Daddy Bob, Master Robert and Lisa Sears, leadership members of the previous NLA-Central Florida, because the event was being held in Tampa.  They first stated that the event was having classes on bestiality being given by an NLA-I board member, and then they stated that it was a gay event, because it was being held at the Suncoast Resort. Here are the facts... that class never took place and the Suncoast was being used because they not only had the Suncoast Eagle, a Leather Bar in Saint Petersburg.  The Owners wanted the event and gave us all of the meeting spaces for FREE!!! How can someone turn that down.  Daddy Bob, Master Robert, and Lisa Sears also made sure that the event was not supported by NLA-International. Going as far as contacting them and requesting the President put in writing that this would not be the case, in turn keeping the letter from the members because it also deflated their lies about the bestiality classes they were telling people existed. It was their decision to instead tell people verbally what the content was without showing anyone a copy like they were instructed to do by the NLA-International. They also went on a campaign to slander us personally to others in the local community. Through all this the event went over without any problems, and was supported relatively well, something they didn't seem to approve of in our thoughts.

Last year when we planned the event, to be hosted at the Westshore Hotel in Tampa.  The same individuals tried again to shut down the event, by contacting the hotel and telling the manager that the Puppy and Pony classes were using real puppies and ponies, and that it was a bestiality event.  They also contacted the Tampa Convention and Visitors Bureau and sent them an email as well stating such.  We know it was them because Lisa Sears signed the email, and said "if you had questions to contact her directly".  She also contacted some of the religious groups in the area stating what kind of event it was.  To top it off, they had a special club meeting with the old members of their group stating that the event was about bestiality, and to make sure that they boycotted the event.  We were able to get this taken care of by contacting NCSF, and putting out press releases about the event.  By the time the event took place all but one of them removed themselves from their leadership roles and the club took on a new direction. Sadly the sting was already there and due to their antics we had to borrow money to put on the event last year. The hotel required full payment up front and we sadly had to ask around for help from our own friends. We were lucky enough to have found that support  from someone and borrowed the money to pay the hotel.

We created a new contest for the community, International Pony and Trainer Contest.  That contest was created as a couples contest, similar to International Master/slave or U.S. Daddy/boy.  The idea of the contest was to have a couple that could teach at other leather and fetish events about the lifestyle.  We had very good response in the beginning, until somebody who wanted to vend and present, also wanted to run.  The rules were very specific.  It stated that you had to run as a couple (2 people). They wanted to run in the contest, but have a different pony for each of the three scored categories. While one pony was interviewing, one would be preparing for the next interview, and would be at their vendor booth.  In other words, one trainer, 3 ponies running .  When we told them that they could vend and run, but we would not allow multiple ponies, they started bad mouthing the event all over the country.  That couple was Foxy and Sheri Fox.  They even said to one of our judges, which by the way they did not know that this person was a judge, that the contest was rigged.  They even spoke with someone that we knew pretty well, Victor Tella,, or we thought we did, and had him tell our prospective contestants that the event will not happen and therefore they should not run for Florida Olympus. Suggesting they should run for Southeast Master/slave instead. 

Now new rumors are flying and this is once again causing stress on local and national registrations. The former Southeast Master/slave couple, Top and bonnie, took one of our ideas and added it to their own event.  Not only that, they made sure that they bad mouthed the event to every person they could talk to throughout Florida and across the country.  When going to a friends in Orlando I was speaking to somebody at a party and was told that they signed up for Beyond Leather and did not sign up for FFW because Top and bonnie stated that it was a gay male event, and not only that, it was an event that had bestiality. We won't even discuss the fact that they contacted our own sponsors, presenters, and advertisers in an attempt to cause us failure, and to bolster their own event.

We never created this event, or any event for ourselves, but for the community.  We also have never made money doing an event.  Just the opposite, we have put ourselves in a financial hole that is going to take a long time to get out of.  However we will, and we will pay back every person we ever borrowed money from out of our own pockets.  The people we feel sorry for are those that chose to send out rumors rather than join into the success themselves.

I do want to thank all of the people that were in our corner for this event, such as Master Michelle, our Playspace Coordinator, Triskilean, our vendor coordinator, Girl Nancy and Kindheartsadist, our vendor coordinators, Photocat, Brad,  and Char, our photographers, Matt Cary, our keynote speaker for this year, as well as a presenter and judge in the past.  We also want to thank all of the presenters, judges, vendors, and volunteers for your support for the event. We also want to thank the new NLA-CFL Chapter members for their support.

But most important, we want to thank Dave Rhodes of the Leather Journal for trying to give Florida a contest that could represent all of the community, not just the gay part of the community. As well as Hardy Haberman, for helping make sure that the event happened last year, and creating new classes for this year to help the event.

Do not get me wrong, Jazz and myself are not disappearing, we will still be involved with the community. You are not hurting Jazz or myself with the event not happening, but you are hurting your own community.  You are stating that you do not want an event in your area.  This is the second event in 2 years that has tried to add something to the Tampa/ Saint Petersburg community and was shut down due to lack of community support.

We will be issuing refunds in the next few days, once all of the accounting is done. Nobody lost money but Jazz and myself.  I do also want to thank those people that decided to show support by buying registrations this year.

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