Bear Brum is three people, Matt, Yogi and Beavis. That's it. Just us three goobers working all year, for free, in our spare time to organise the entire weekend. It's entirely self funded and run and we love doing it.

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But it takes a village to make a bear weekend happen.

We have so many people to thank, so make yourself a cuppa and read on. 

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Firstly we'd like to thank Isa for his incredible artwork. He created our three bears last year and they have taken on a life of their own. Everyone loves them and they are a part of the Birmingham identity now, as are you Isa. We can't recommend Isa enough, if you need art for events, logos, comics, video games, anything... hire him. He is worth his weight in gold.

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Next, our podcast dad Graeme for condensing our ramblings into audio gold for Bear Pod. We managed three episodes last year doing it alone and this year he produced a massive eighteen episodes. We couldn't have done that without you. You are awesome. Thank you. 

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Thank you so much to all the bars around Gay Town that helped us put on Bear Brum 2026. Cal, Garry, Steve and the team at Eden. You're our rock and you're the reason we were even able to get Bear Brum started at all. We are proud to call you home base.

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Andy and the team at The Fox, you know how to party. Thanks again for giving Doctor Woof and Carmelle Toe the garden to put on an amazing show. Thanks Daddy x

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Simon and the team at WashWorx, your cocktails are to die for and your enthusiasm, creativity and dedication are amazing. Thanks for creating such a welcoming drop in space for our guests this year. We look forward to working with you more next year.

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Hannah and Romany at The Village you were so welcoming and it was great to see you getting involved with the games at our event. We had so much good feedback. Super thanks also to Jamie, Mike and Tonga for organising Games Games Games for us, and to Adam at Sliced 'n' Diced for generously providing the games for the event for the second year running. You're a true local hero Adam.

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Andy and the team at CloneZone, thank you so much for your generosity with your discounts, your promotion of our events and for lending us clothes for the fashion show. We had so many people come up to us and show us what they bought, and they looked great. Also thank you for the bingo prizes. You've been so good to us.

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Likewise to Glenn at Den Loungewear for the very sexy outfits for the fashion show and the very generous £40 voucher prize. We hope your elbow injury is on the mend and we get to see you in person next year. 

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David and Gavin at Bear Swap gave us the day at theirs to go through their entire stock to come up with a couple of looks for out models for the fashions show. It was also their first birthday and they told us they were inspired to create Bear Swap after last year's inaugural Bear Brum. Awww. 

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Speaking of fashion, please give it up for Graham, James and Teddie for turnting the looks. It takes courage to stand up in front of everyone on the first event of the weekend and not know what you're going to be wearing. You all looked super hot. Fashion icons.

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Thanks to the Fountain for the bar for our welcome event.

 

And thank you to the Yumbo Sauna for not only giving our guests discounts, but also for the vip taxi service on Saturday afternoon. We loved getting to meet you and we love your enthusiasm for making stuff happen.

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Missing bar did the business again with their Karaoke session and we were thrilled to welcome Harrington's Gourmet Sandwiches to the club for our Weekend Pass discounts. We recommend the breakfast sandwich. 

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We want to take a moment to single someone out. Paul, the chair of MidsBears is one of the hardest working bears on the Birmingham scene, and he doesn't even live here. Paul organised the excellent market, served you chips, worked the bar at BEEFMINCE and did about a million other things. He works tirelessly all year to make Birmingham a better place to be. We love you Paul x.

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Big thanks and love to Deany and the team at Dandy for a spectacular kick-off to the weekend. Their mix tape energy is a beautiful thing to behold. They brought us such a great night of queer joy.

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Also huge thanks to Ryan and Jon for ripping the lid off Eden on Saturday night with the almighty BEEFMINCE. We had to extend the terrace and open the dark room just to fit everyone in. People were dancing right up until close. 

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We would also like to thank Si for the amazing photos of the weekend. We will be putting them out over the next few days. They look stunning. 

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While we were all feeling it on Sunday morning Beverly Bacon was bringing us back to life with the incredible bingo (SHOTS!). Songs were sung, games were played, jockstraps were worn, babies were thrown, fun was had.

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Then it was time for Gareth, Matthew, Ben and Alan to bring it all to a head with the excellent Queer As Joke: Bears Gone Mild. At that point in the weekend Matt, Yogi and Beavis were all dead on their feet and it was so nice to just be able to sit back and have a laugh.

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That leaves us with just one more person to thank.

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Thank you. Thank you to all 250+ people who came to our little weekend party. You showed up with such beautiful energy, such welcoming warmth and friendliness. It was a joy to be with each and every one of you. It was so good to see people who travelled on their own make new friends, and people who were there in groups be so welcoming to others. You all looked stunning. We weren't sure if people would mind us not having a theme this year and the theme was very much YOU and YOU looked awesome. 

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Matt, Yogi and Beavis are going to go into hibernation for a bit now, we need to decompress, make sure everything is properly closed down for the year and then after a bit of a rest, we will look at what 2027 bring for Bear Brum.

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Thank you all again for making it such a good year. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to improve on the first one but it seems we're only getting started.

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Send us your photos on socials, we love to see them. We want to hug you all one more time. Big squishy love. If we have forgotten to thank you, please know we appreciate you and once we've had a bit more sleep we will add your name to the roll call. 

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Matt, Yogi and Beavis x