Olympus Leather

Updates: Covid 2020-2021 Event Announcements

End of the Olympus Leather Contest?

From the desk of Vonn Tramel, Owner Olympus Leather

In May of 2019 Olympus Leather Hosted some fantastic folks in Chicago for Olympus Leather Weekend 2019. Among them was Laura Antoniou who was kind enough to take my money and give a keynote address of her choosing "whether I liked what she had to say or not". Little did she know, that I had been pondering some of the things she had to say.

Why weren't events focusing on artists and authors? Why were events SOOOOO focused on "just contests"? After all, titleholders "should" be doing SOMETHING...What were they actually doing? I'd been having trouble answering that very question for the 6 years I'd been involved with Olympus Leather beyond traveling, teaching (teaching what?), and raising money (for what and did I KNOW the charities were getting their money? and that raised more questions than I had time to ponder).

WELP....2020 gave me A LOT of time to think about whether or not a pageant was the way to continue. December 31, 2020, I made the decision and put out the word to Regional and Local Olympus Leather Producers that we were killing the pageant system as we knew it. I have ideas. Ideas for the way we pick future titleholders, the way we present our events, the way we utilize this family to promote our chosen charities, and the way we choose our charities. The whole thing needed a good scrub and re-work.

In February 2021 a group of individuals comprised of Olympus Leather Former Titleholders, close family members, and Producers sat in on the first committee meeting to hear what I had to say. Some liked it, some are still (as of May) not certain about the changes...I am CERTAIN that we'll come out the other side of this thing better for it.

I'm not ready to spill all the beans just yet, but we have chosen the date for the next event and I hope you'll join us for OLW 2021 Online. This won't be just another Zoom Conference. We'll have curated virtual museum displays and vendors marts where you can autonomously stroll through at your leisure, the Leather Quilt will be on virtual display as well. Performances on the main stage by our community for our community, a special table reading of Laura Antoniou's Killer short "A SPICE Oddity". NO Contest (this year) NO Classes, NO Auction. Chat roulette...and so much more is being planned! And it's all FREE. Registration will be opening soon.

Olympus Leather Weekend, FREE VIRTUAL JULY 24, 2021 Info updated weekly at OlympusLeather.com

Midwest Olympus Leather, Ohio - Next event TBD check midwestolympus.com for updates

Central Canada Olympus Leather, Ottawa, ON Canada - Next event TBD check centralcanadaolympus.com for updates

Great Plains Olympus Leather, Dallas, TX - Next event TBD check greatplainsolympus.com for updates.

Olympus Leather producers have agreed that all events should if not already postponed be monitored closely through September 2021.

Updates about all Olympus Leather events will be at the top of each of their website homepages.

2015 West Coast Mr. Olympus Leather - Matthew Mullins

Photo by Dusti Cunningham {dusticunningham.com}

matthew mullens by dusi cunningham

In July of 2015 Matthew Mullins became the 3rd Mr West Coast Olympus Leather. He is a professional writer, event photographer and event promotor/bartender for Bullet Bar. He lives with his Master, Dan Lovell, and serves him as a pup and a slave, and he flags yellow, light blue, and hunter green. In 2014, he joined the ranks of the Los Angeles Band of Brothers after winning Mr. Bullet Leather 2014. He continued his journey by winning Southern California Leather Boy 2014, and was 1st runner up at the International Leather Sir/boy competition in Dallas. Then the following summer he ran and picked up the title of Mr. West Coast Olympus 2015. With the titles and exposure, he has been able to raise thousands for charities such as, APLA, AIDS Lifecycle, St Judes Research Hospital, LA Gay & Lesbian Center, Paws LA, Tom of Finland Foundation, and many more. In 2015, He is seen as an advocate for the pup lifestyle in Los Angeles, and co-created the first ever Los Angeles Puppy Pride Weekend this past November. He also has been a speaker at Avatar, teaching ‘old guard’ the ways of puppy play. He will ride in AIDS Lifecycle for the second time next June.

Vision The Leather community is comprised of an extremely diverse group of people Olympus Leather Titles are a platform for non-biased community visibility.		Mission The Olympus Leather Mr/Ms/Mx International & Regional Titles seek to advance equity in the leather community for all persons.