MIR 2010

Finally, here's my review of the crazy antics that sum up the Mister International Rubber 2010 weekend in Chicago, November 6-8, 2009.

This year's event was bigger and better than ever. There were some initial hesitations from some long-time attendees about moving the event from the local Chicago bars to the Center on Halsted, but all that was quickly forgotten once it was obvious the venue would provide more space to compete, socialize, and perv out on gear for everyone.

It was so wonderful to see so many old friends, familiar faces and getting the opportunity to get to know many new rubberfiends that were in attendance.

M and I made it into O'Hare late Friday afternoon where we met up with our roommates for the weekend at the host hotel. We made the trip to the Days Inn on Diversey as quickly as we could, and began the task of unloading our gear from our luggage and getting ready for Friday evenings events. Despite our haste, we still didn't make it in time to the Center for the initial Meet and Greet at 8pm. We ran into a flock of rubbermen waiting for the shuttle bus to the Center when we arrived at the hotel; obviously we were already quite certain that we weren't going to make it for the beginning of the events.

We did eventually make it, showing up at the Center around 9:30pm just as the intermission for the Friday night competition portion was finishing. The guys serving at the bar in the hospitality room were very generous in their pourings of vodka which lead to some trouble later on in the evening (American hard-liquor freepouring is a good thing but potentially has some pretty nasty consequences!). We were able to watch the second half of the 'Rubber Image' portion of the competition and catch a glimpse of all seven rubbermen that were competing in this year's contest. I was able to reconnect with a lot of guys that I knew from last year in addition to many new guys that were able to attend this year for the first time. M had no problems making lots of new friends; he is a lot more outgoing than I am and was having a lot of fun getting involved in the goings-on at the Center.






After the competition everyone headed to the CellBlock across the street for some post-event drinks. We hung out there until the wee hours of the morning. Many guys headed to Steamworks for the first of several unofficial MIR parties of the weekend, however a few of us didn't make it into Steamworks for reasons I won't go into here!

We headed back to the hotel and crashed early after a long day of travelling, little food or sleep and lots of vodka. In the morning, M and I started playing around in the hotel room while the others got ready and headed to the Center again to take in the Vendor Market. J came back mid-afternoon just as M and I were getting ready to head to the market but decided to stay behind once we were ready to go.

The market was great. I'm sure the vendors were appreciative that this year they didn't have to build up and tear down their displays on a daily basis since there was dedicated space for all of them in the Center's gymnasium. We got to visit with a lot of friends, check out a lot of new gear and rubber clothing, buy a few things from some of the vendors and check out all the great deals in the gear swap sponsored by the Chicago Rubbermen. Kudos go out to all the guys that organized such a great time!


The highlight of the vendor market was definitely the demo space in the center of the room being managed by Kinkrubber. The setup was quite complex with piping all around the perimeter of the space allowing for multiple vacuum and bondage items to be blown up or sucked out simultaneously. There were up to six demos being put on at any one time. If I hadn't been so hungover from Friday as well as focusing on getting M some new gear and keeping an eye out for some gear for myself, I would've gladly been a willing victim for some of the demos. Now that we know how everything is set up this will be a definite must for next year. I think I said the same thing last year, but logistics were a bit different and more complicated this year than last.

We went back to the hotel around 6pm to clean up, check out our new gear, disco nap and get ready for the Contest finale at the Center. We actually made it to the Center in time to watch the entire contest, partake in the hospitality room during the intermissions and check out the hijinks going on in the Center bathrooms on the third floor.

The judges selected Chicago's own Junya, Mr. Midwest Rubber 2009 as the 2nd Runner Up, and Skin Rubber Boy from Puerto Rico as the 1st Runner Up. It was finally revealed that Fenn, Mr. Toronto Rubber 2009 is the new Mr International Rubber for 2010. Triple play for the Canucks - 2008, 2009, and 2010! Whoot!




Immediately after the contest, everyone headed to the Victory Party at Jackhammer/The Hole and Touche. We stayed there until 3pm or so and were really enjoying ourselves until abruptly being sent home on the bus back to the hotel around 3:30 (another story I won't get into here). Apparently things went on until much later but in a way it was a relief we went home when we did.

Sunday brought another beautiful day to take in some of the sights of the Windy City. M, Rubberchris and I went downtown, took in some of the architectural marvels of Chicago in addition to Millenium Park and other downtown attractions. We never made it to the Vendor Market on Sunday although M was lamenting we never got to check out any of the Carrera chastity equipment that he had his eyes on!

After a bit of a rest and dinner on Diversey, we headed to the unofficial Official MIR weekend wrapup night at Sidetrack. This year's event was more muted than last year, mostly due to the fact official events wrapped up the night before, however we still had a lot of fun and got to visit with a lot of people (particularly the Chicago Rubbermen guys who were so busy on the weekend who now had some time to unwind and relax). We headed back to the hotel relatively early. Rubberchris' flight back to L.A. was early on Monday morning and M and I wanted to get a full day of sightseeing in.










We headed back downtown, had dinner at the rooftop restaurant (aptly named "Roof") of the Wit Hotel and shopped on the Magnificent Mile before heading up to Andersonville to grab some grub at Big Chicks with ChicagoPissBoy and a jazz performance at the Blue Mill. We ended up at Hydrate on Halsted for some late night dancing.

Tuesday we did a quick shopping stint at Akira and then were off to O'Hare to catch our flight back to Vancouver.

The weekend went by so quickly but it was another memorable MIR. The organizers were very happy with the attendance and the improvement the facilities at the Center on Halsted allowed them for scheduling and space. It was a great change for the event and I can only hope the organizers will build on the great time that was had by all at the 2010 event!