CHICAGO – Nick Zuko took the 2013 Mr. Chicago Leather title in front of a packed house on Saturday, Jan. 26, in Chicago’s Touche.
Nick won the title ahead of three other contestants. The contestants, all Chicagoans, are Boomer, 29; Darrell, 44; Corey, 33; and Nick, 28. Each contestant spoke about wanting to encourage both new and old members of the Chicago fetish community come together to learn and grow the community.
The crowd for the contest was the biggest MCL has had in years, with people coming from across the region and as far away as New York and Louisiana to attend. John Pendal, IML 2003, was the emcee for his tenth year.
John kept the contest moving at a good pace, with the occasional audience help of showing “Shut the fuck up, pumpkin!” to quiet the loudest talkers in the audience. He also got IML 2012 and contest judge Woody Woodruf on stage for an impromptu singing competition with Chicago entertainer Alexandra St. James. John Pendal would give the first line of a song and Woody was supposed to sing the rest of the song. Possibly a bit distracted because of the crowd and the heat generated by it, he was trounced quite soundly by Alexandra. She won the Doctor Who postcards and poster brought from England by John.
Several of the city’s clubs also showed up in support of members in the contest and the contest itself. The Chicago Rubbermen, LRA-Chicago, Onyx/Midwest, the Chicago Puppy Patrol and Chicago Hellfire all made their presence known on both Friday and Saturday night.
There were also some announcements by area leaders. Douglas O’Keefe, a former Cell Block Leatherman announced that his next Fireside Chat series installment would be with David Boyer, the manager of Touche. Outgoing MCL Angel Velez thanked his husband, IML brothers and the Chicago community in his stepdown speech.
David himself announced the first Chuck Windemuth Leather Mentor Award. Chuck was the very first MCL in 1997 and is currently fighting advanced stage cancer at his family’s home. Don Leach, Great Lakes LeatherSir 2002 received the inaugural award.
Nick will go on to represent the host city at the Internaional Mr. Leather contest at the Chicago Marriott on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago.
[flagallery gid=21 name=Gallery]
