Team Bearrison
Sister Desi Juana Dewitt (Co-Chair, Health and Safety Team Lead)
Starting in 2006 as a co-founder of the Eureka Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Sister Desi knew they lived to serve the community. In 2008, they transferred houses and moved back home to San Francisco! Since 2016, Sister Desi has been serving as the Sexytary of the SF Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. They have volunteered and contributed to many facets of our community. Their focus has been helping our queer youth, aiding our LGBT+ elders with groceries, and at times, lively games of bingo with the residents at the HIV wing at Laguna Honda Hospital. These days they are focused on body positivity and spreading joy in the bear community. An all around great Nun, we say!
In 2015, the Sisters decided to cancel Pink Saturday during pride weekend due to safety concerns of the community and fellow Nuns. Desi personally felt a calling to start another fair the Sisters could lead. Being able to bring back Hairrison Street Fair was a dream and the thought stuck with them for years. It wasn’t until 2018, when they met Erik Greenfrost, the Chair of the Bears of San Francisco, that Desi asked if there was a desire to bring back “Hairrison” in some fashion and their cogs started rolling. The outcome? 2+ years of hard work, committee meetings, and what is now the inaugural Bearrison Street Fair!
Being Co-Chair with Erik has been a blast. Desi will be running around during the day of the event fielding questions, providing permits, helping security, and most importantly, making sure everyone has a safe and fun experiences!
Erik Greenfrost (Co-Chair, Financial Team Lead)
Erik (genderqueer, pronoun flexible) is the Co-Chair for the Bearrison Street Fair as well as the Chair of the Bears of San Francisco. They have lived around the Bay Area for 15 years and was immediately drawn to the bear community, including being crowned International Bear Cub 2011. She is also the producer of the Bay Area Cub Contest. When not working as an unpaid event planner, he was an English professor at City College of San Francisco until laid off, and is now the Sr. Manager of Community Engagement and Partnerships at SFJAZZ.
Erik is so excited that what started as a random conversation with their great friend, Sister Desi, has grown into this amazing project. We have all mourned the loss of large bear events in the city, such as IBR, as well as Sister events, such as Halloween in the Castro and Pink Saturday. Bearrison represents an awesome opportunity to bring back a shared community event.
As Co-Chair, Erik is connecting with all the various Teams to make sure the project is moving forward. He is especially focused on the budget as the Financial Team Lead and is excited about all the fundraising opportunities. All money from Bearrison will be redistributed back to our community - something especially needed after the devastation of the pandemic.
Larry Rivera (Accessibility Team Lead)
Larry is a long term resident of San Francisco and lives in China Basin with a small dog. He is a founding member of the Bears of San Francisco. Since he’s 72, he has “old people needs” so the accessibility team was a good fit. He wants to make it easy for everyone to enjoy the event and is happy to be helping.
Sister Nova Aggra (Ambassabears Team Lead)
Sister Nova Aggra joined the San Francisco Sisters in August 2016. Originating as the first Guard of the Eureka house (Abbey of the Big Red Wood) in 2007, Nova moved to Indiana and helped co-found the Indiana Crossroads Sisters (Abbey of the Shimmering Silo) from 2012-2016. Sister Nova became the Mistress of Novices of the San Francisco order in 2018, and continued through 2020. Now, Sister Nova focuses their effort mostly on Bearrison Street Fair, the Ambassabears Team, and working with The Ethical Slut presents: Navigating Consent to facilitate classes.
Nova was always drawn to street fairs like Dore Alley, but got involved with Bearrison when their Big Sister, Desi Juana Dewitt, shared their vision. Nova wanted to help early on in the planning stages even though they weren't sure what their capacity would be like when we started over 2 years ago. Now, the Ambassabears are super excited to represent our intermingled, intersectional communities at the Bearrison Street Fair, with events leading up to the fair and also online.
Brett Poe (BIPOC Affirming and Welcoming Team)
Brett is big bear that loves really big hugs. Born and raised in TN, on his path of self discovery he decided to move cross country to the San Francisco Bay Area where he found more than himself, he found community.
Brett is committed to promoting body positivity and enhancing diversity alongside raising awareness of the interconnected nature of race, sexuality, gender, class, and ability as they relate not only to the Bear community but also the Queer community as a whole.
Brett is the current Bay Area Cub 2022, but his path to Bearrison began when he ran for the Bay Area Cub Contest in 2019. There he met Erik Greenfrost, chair of the Bears of San Francisco, who embraced and pushed him to try something new and most importantly, have fun doing it. Although 2019 wasn’t his year to win, Brett was given the opportunity to be apart of something a little different, a quite bigger, and definitely hairier.
Ben Fonik (Director of Entertainment, Marketing Team Lead)
A transplant from WI, Ben has called SF home for over 20 years. Ben (IG: djbenfonik) has been DJing since 2019, playing bars and clubs in SOMA and is a regular DJ at Lazy Bear. He loves the bears and he aims to make Bearrison a unique event that invites both sexiness and creativity and promotes the arts scene in the bear community. Along with MetalBob, Ben is the co-creator of the Barbells, Bears, and Butts Deadlift Competition. He loves San Francisco and is honored to contribute to the city’s culture and to help keep SF a vibrant, sexy, and fun destination for the bear and queer communities.
Prince Wolf (Entertainment Team Co-Lead: Main Stage)
Prince Wolf is passionate about living and being active in the San Francisco bay area. He is active in the Imperial Court of San Francisco and can be found volunteering anywhere from the Bare Chest Calendar to leather and bear events. He enjoys DJ-ing at bear events, leather events, pride parades, hole in the wall, middle of nowhere events, and places in between.
Prince Wolf was drawn to serving as the Entertainment Team Lead. The Entertainment Team works together to bring us all the Bearrison entertainment. They are excited to bring us joy through live entertainment, music, drag, wrestling, and more.
MarcoMania (Entertainment Team Co-Lead: Wrestle Stage)
MarcoMania has been involved in the community for almost 10 years. He is currently a trained pro wrestler who performs all over California. He has always wanted to wrestle in San Francisco. The opportunity presented itself during the Bearrison Street Fair and he couldn’t resist! He is going to be wrestling during the street fair and has a lot of great talent ready to wow the crowd.
David Hyman (Entertainment Team Co-Lead: VIP Bear Garden / Bear Woods)
David Hyman serves on the Board of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District, but also gives positive energy to the Leather Alliance, the Friends of Eagle Plaza, the Bears of San Francisco, and the notorious Yellow and Black Group. David is retired, a widower, and pretty darn kinky.
David was drawn to Bearrison because he loves bears, both individually and as a social institution. And he loves street fairs! Last year, David was Park Ranger for the Bear Wood and Bear Den (a part of the VIP area of the Fair). This year, he has new ideas for making the Fair more fun than a barrel of horny monkeys.
Jack Stehn (Entertainment Team)
Jack has been in the bear community as long as they have been out. A nerd, a performer, a go-getter, and a jack-of-all-trades, they always have at least a few projects in the works. After enjoying the sense of community and the beautiful people at Bearrison's launch, they are excited to be a part of the Bearrison team.
Jack has been a chronic over-volunteerer in the queer scene and endeavored to put focus on only a select few projects at once when they moved to San Francisco. When they started meeting the sweet folks responsible for Bearrison and identifying with its mission, it seemed like a natural fit! Now they can help throw a party and give back to the community at the same time. Jack is on the Bearrison Entertainment Team where they spend much of their time working on bringing fun (and a bit of whimsy) into the fair. Jack is excited to bring artists, performers, and games to the fair that all can enjoy!
Saint Wes Craven-Cox (Financial Team: Sponsorship Manager)
Wes was a twink when he moved to San Francisco 20 years ago. He theorizes that San Francisco turns twinks into bears. His beard grows in red, but when he had hair—which also faded shortly after moving to SF—it was blond. He has a long record of volunteering at local LGBT charities. For money, he crunches health care data. Everything he likes is immoral, expensive, or fattening.
Wes was drawn into helping with Bearrison by The Old Ball and Chain (aka Sister Desi). He has been helping with the $$$, but he’s really just excited to be a part of such a wonderful community building effort.
Ian Miramontes Begley (Food & Beverage Team Lead)
Ian is a bear and originally from Michigan. He moved out to San Francisco 13 years ago and fell in love with the city, the LGBTQ community, and he met his husband here (who is also a fellow bear!) They have been happily married going on 4 years.
The bear community is where Ian found his home within the LGBtQ community. He found body positivity and confidence he did not have before. Being a part of Bearrison is a way for him to give back and open up opportunities to those who may have felt ashamed of how they look and feel, being big or stocky. The Food and Beverage Team brings delicious meals and libations to the fair. He is excited to work with teams who are excited about feeding a bunch of hungry bears.
Zech Ryan (Green Team Lead)
Dylan Bockholt (Marketing Team: Graphic Designer)
Dylan is a graphic designer and Visual Communication Design student at San Francisco State University. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Dylan loves being part of the bear community and hosting dinners and events along the Peninsula. With prior experience working with a local SOMA bar and LGBTQIA+ small businesses, he is excited to be part of the Bearrison Marketing Team for the 2023 fair.
Dylan went to the fair in 2022 and really enjoyed the atmosphere, crowd, and events. He wants to create designs to invoke, invite, and inspire guests to come visit a truly unique Bay Area fair! He believes his team has a very strong design and marketing direction for this year and cannot wait to be able to create a fair worth celebrating "Under the Big Tops"!
Richard Dupler (Marketing Team: Graphic Designer)
Richard is a New Orleans native, who moved to the Bay Area in 1997. He has worked off and on as a graphic designer, video editor, and production assistant for over two decades. Richards participated peripherally in the 2021 Bearrison Street Fair and wanted to be more involved in 2022. The Marketing Team, in a highly collaborative process, produce eye catching print and digital promotional assets.
Guard HOOOO?! (Marketing Team: Graphic Designer)
Guard HOOOO?! is a fully professed member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc., and serves the San Francisco Order as the Master of Archives. He is proud to lead the Bearrison Marketing Team and looks forward to another successful fair. Look for him in the VIP Hospitality Booth backstage!
Erik roped Guard HOOOO?! into the Bearrison Team after he made the mistake of letting Erik know that he used to run Security for Folsom. HA! The posters and fliers that got you to come to the fair; my team made them. #YoureWeclome!
Ben PerLee (Marketing Team: Public Relations Manager)
Born and raised in Northern California, Ben is a Bay Area native who is thrilled to be supporting the Bearrison Street Fair. With over a decade of marketing and events experience, he is excited to apply his professional experience to this new event. In addition to amazing bear events like the BSF, Ben is also a fan of travel, games, French, and more.
Ben is excited to see an overt return to some of the core foundations of inclusivity in the bear scene. Bears should be amongst the most welcoming and inclusive folks amongst the LGBT+ community, and he wants to support and encourage this mentality.
Ben is helping on two teams, the Marketing Team and the Entertainment Team! He is acting as the Public Relations Manager for the BSF, reaching out to media locally and internationally to raise awareness, and is also working with the Entertainment Team in securing some high-profile performers. Ben is enjoying both roles!
Matty Benson (Vendor Team Lead)
Matty (they/she) identifies as agender/nonbinary trans-femme. They moved to the Bay Area from Columbus, Ohio, in 2019 for grad school. They have 4 pets and a spouse. They work now in higher education with a background in community/political organizing, event planning, and child/family welfare.
Matty loves that this event is seeking to expand what we understand a "Bear" is. It allows people to find an inclusive space that celebrates all bodies and gender expressions. They are really enjoying meeting people, talking about the fair, and bringing in vendors to help bring community into this event!
Davide Sahner (Volunteers Team Co-Lead)
Davide (he-him-ello) was born in Italy and has been a Bay Area resident since 2016. When not working for an Equal Opportunity Program, Davide can be usually found in theaters watching live performances or volunteering for various LGBTQ+ events and organizations. Davide is ecstatic and proud to be part of the team: he joined the group in July 2021 and has seen this baby growing from vision to thriving completion. Davide is part of the volunteers and media marketing teams and has probably sold you tickets for the beer busts.
Davide was drawn to Bearrison because of the idea of a shared vision to represent and celebrate our community. He is excited to be recruiting volunteers and be their Hen Mother at the event.
Stan Wong (Volunteers Team Co-Lead)
Stan has a long history of supporting the rights and freedom of all individuals and giving back to the community. He was drawn to the project because of the great work that the Sisters and the Bears do for the community. Stan is working with the Volunteer Team to motivate volunteers to give our guests the best "Only in San Francisco" experience.
Liam Calvin O. Henson (Financial + Volunteers Team: Hospitality Sponsors)
Liam is an aspiring Physical Therapist who aims to serve the LGBTQIA+ community of the Bay Area as both a healthcare professional and a voice for the queer community. Volunteering for events like the AIDS Memorial Grove and Folsom Street Fair made him realize the importance of representation and social support for Non-Binary and Queer folk like herself. Since then, they have been aspiring to provide quality healthcare and be an active listener to the LGBTQIA+ community and the public of the Bay Area.
What drew Liam to be part of the Bearrison Street Fair is being more integrated to the local LGBTQIA+ community. This way, they can see what the community needs, are able to give back and better serve the local queer community in the future as a healthcare professional.
Liam’s team is in charge of making sure that we have the financial resources to make the event a success. Additionally, they are excited to fundraise for future events that are deemed beneficial to the community.