Editor's Note: We're making the Fetish Con buzz last as long as possible. Miss it already? Here's how the awards went down last week, and why it's worth noting.
Sunday afternoon at FetishCon is usually a more subdued affair. By this point, many attendees have multiple parties, afterparties, and after-afterparty pool parties behind them, so there are a lot fewer high heels and a lot more caffeine in the classrooms and vendor rooms. At least you can always count on the cam girls to be fresh and perky, even when trapped in the stocks.
And Sunday is a great day to take your pets out with you, especially with a dog-friendly city like St. Pete..
After the vendors packed in and the classes emptied out, the vendor hall was transformed for a new event being added to the regular Fetish Con schedule. In place of the “Fetish Prom”-style Sunday night afterparty that FetCon has done for the last few years, they've started an awards show. And like any proper awards show, there was a red carpet for stars like Stacy Burke, who ended up being the recipient of the first Fetish Con Award for her help in making Fetish Con what it is today.
As expected with a new and large-scale undertaking, there were some bumps. The event started a little over an hour late, but nobody minded since there were drinks and appetizers to enjoy. The blaring 90’s Miami strip club music was a bit odd, but easy to get past with some prosciutto and melon. Two of FetishCon's event founders — the incredibly hard-working Genesis Lynn and Vesta — gave out the first awards.
After the special recognition awards, co-hosts Anastasia Pierce and Jewell Marceau presented the rest of the awards, wowing the crowd with all of their latex costume changes. For anyone who has never worn latex, it’s not as simple as unzipping one dress and zipping into another. There’s powdering, powdering, more powdering, careful and patiently slipping into the garment and then lot and lots of shining.
Genius photographer Scott Church won the hotly contested Best Still Fetish Photographer award, for which the almost capacity crowd loudly cheered.
And no fetish event would be complete without performances from some of the best, like the always sparkly, vivacious, and spectacularly dressed Gia Nova. The Penthouse Pet and all-around sweetheart came down from the stage to strip in the audience before handing out posters and t-shirts between cartwheels.
The awards felt like the most natural way to wrap up a weekend where so many talented people from so many areas of the industry had gathered. I have no doubts that, with the ambitious and creative people behind this event, every tiny area of opportunity will be recognized and worked into submission so that next year is even better.
I can guarantee that we'll be there again for every moment, too!
This article appears in Aug 18-25, 2016.