Larry Dickinson founded East Coast Bears, an organization that hosted the annual Fur Fest. Larry and his partner, Steve Rogers also documented Fredericton Pride events with photos and video.
Fur Fest began in 1995 and ran until 2006. For many years, the event was held at the Wandlyn Inn, in Fredericton, until it's last years where Fur Fest moved to the Crowne Plaza. The first Fur Fest had about 25 participants, and included a dance at the Kinsmen Center. By 2006 there were more than 175 bears at the event, and FF was advertised in the Fredericton City Tourism Guide.
The group defined bears as: people who were, or liked, masculine, hairy men. There are many definitions of what a bear should look like; as far as this group was concerned, it's not just physical, it was emotional and societal too, a fraternal sense of acceptance and belonging, fitting in, feeling sexy and desirable, comfortable in your own skin, and being able to establish a chosen family. All were welcome who were interested in bears.
The collection includes 299 digital photos of Fredericton Pride events from 2014-2017, 1 video of the Fredericton Pride parade 2015, and a photo album documenting Fur Fest 1996-2005.