Absolutely the WORST IML EVER

[stillbreedin]

two hundred bucks. i assume the exhibitors are getting more money ? b/c i  imagine the traffic is lighter. 

[dickluva]

4 hours ago, hntnhole said:

Do you mean Eastlake Terrace ???  

There wasn't anything particularly "gay" on that street when I lived in R.P. ..... Please tell more !!! 

I would have sent this in pm as it is so off topic, butt I wasn't able. [think before following links] https://www.thedenoffeastlake.com/

[dickluva]

4 hours ago, stillbreedin said:

two hundred bucks. i assume the exhibitors are getting more money ? b/c i  imagine the traffic is lighter. 

The prices prohibit young people. Mostly senior citizens, like me have that kind of disposable income. I am on disability for HIV+. My Life is more difficult because of these prices. A weekend at IML didn't use to cost a months income.

[MuscledHorse]

i haven' been to IML since right before COVID but I had several friends go this and a couple of them were very unhappy with how some the event went, including overselling tickets to an even component that had them sitting outside the main room watching it on a big TV. Personally, IML was always just OK. I find CLAW to be the superior event because it has piles of Skills, Education and Roundtable panels and classes on top of the constant sex and large vendor mart. In fact, this year's CLAW neither Mr. S or Nasty Pig came and it really opened the door for smaller companies to come in and I found some cool products. I also find Pig Week to be better--10 consecutive days of sex parties. And that's not counting the private parties that go on before and/or after the day's event party. Between the gatherings my husband was taking me too and the daily event parties I was heavily used and went through six bottles of poppers in the process. I wanted to go to IML this year but wasn't able to and now I'm considering not going next year like I was planning to.

[hntnhole]

14 hours ago, dickluva said:

I would have sent this in pm as it is so off topic

Thanks for that link.  That 'hood has really changed, and for the better !!!  

[stillbreedin]

14 hours ago, dickluva said:

The prices prohibit young people. Mostly senior citizens, like me have that kind of disposable income. I am on disability for HIV+. My Life is more difficult because of these prices. A weekend at IML didn't use to cost a months income.

 

[stillbreedin]

The prices prohibit young people. Mostly senior citizens, like me have that kind of disposable income. I am on disability for HIV+. My Life is more difficult because of these prices. A weekend at IML didn't use to cost a months income.

that is what i have been thinking for years.  they used to have  deal where if you helped out some way you got a break, but the ticket price was still out of the reach of many who would really benefit from the event.  just my quirk: including  blue collar/redneck, etc guys who, without exception, have been the best sex partners every time.

[AlwaysOpen]

A lot of things are probably at play here, between costs, the organizers level of involvement, available venues, even the lack of the late Chuck Renslow guiding the planning and pulling in favors and politicians to help bring it all together. And, some may fall directly on the people IML was aimed at. A lot of the attendees went for the LEATHER part of IML in the past. And they would shop the market, go to the pagentry portions of the weekend, and generally be invested in the event. And some guys were just attending for a deeper pool of cocks- to be a cum dump for- and not for any part of the event. But that sort of added to the edginess of the leather subculture and became expected. I wonder if perhaps the newer shift that is happening, of less and less leather and more spandex Captain Marvel or other comic book/video game characters may be slowly eating away at the big leather events. Or it could be that dark void that was created by the AIDS epidemic thru the 80's and 90's impacting these events- a whole generation was decimated before the meds came along and began ebbing the death counts. 

As far as costs, some of it may be the IML committee's part. But having just traveled for the first time in 5 years, I can defend the IML folk- hotels or motels have all jacked their prices ; which makes sense when everyone was demanding a living wage for everyone- those costs have to be passed on- be it the hotel, the charter bus service, the wholesale foodservice company supplying food to the hotel. And I swear, fking Memphis has the rubber balls to charge a $2 a night "head" tax for each person in a rented hotel room, on top of a 14.75% tax!!  All cities have decided visitors to their city are easy picking and just keep adding fees for coming to their city and spending money and creating jobs there. 

Perhaps there needs to be some sort of a apprenticeship set up for the younger guys who cannot swing the full cost of doing MAL, CLAW, IML. A mentorship of sorts, where someone who has achieved that level of income that they can afford a room and not have to go without eating for a month, could , with certain guidelines, offer to "adopt"  someone for the weekend and introduce them to what IML was originally about- a gathering of like minded men sharing a weekend together, as one family.

[Raunchyfag]

The cost to enter the market was about $10 a day and $40 for a weekend pass. If you volunteer for a single shift of 4 hours you get a free weekend pass to the market and for 3 shifts you get a pass to all the official IML parties plus the contest. This IML did feel a little blah as far as cruising but I socialized and talked to more people than usual. In my humble opinion circuit parties and their patrons are the two biggest contributors of IML losing its edge. All the events were all over the city because every club, bar, entertainment venue was throwing their own overpriced/oversold party. And most of the people who attend those do not care for or are part of the leather community. 

[paradoxd1]

I think the vibe was hurt a bit that we didn’t have full run of the hotel - there was a decent block sold for a music festival happening in the park that weekend too. Personally, I still had a great time, but that’s mostly bc my two objectives are see friends I only really see at IML and take loads from strangers, both of which I did a lot of this year haha. It wouldn’t surprise me if they found a different location for next year.

[hntnhole]

1 hour ago, paradoxd1 said:

I think the vibe was hurt a bit that we didn’t have full run of the hotel - there was a decent block sold for a music festival happening in the park that weekend too

REALLY !!!

When I lived in Chicago, that would have been unheard of. 

Whichever hotel was hosting, it would be completely sold out weeks before IML.  There were even other, smaller, older hotels in the Loop that would arrange (with the IML planners) to have the jonny-cum-latelie's steered to their hotel by the IML staff, once the host hotel was full.