By Teeebone
January 22, 2009: "You all rock!!! Thank you soooooo much for having taken this idea and run with it for a year..."- (From a congratulatory email sent from the office.)
The second year began with celebration and excitement, but there was still so much for us to learn and experiment with, including new music and event themes, workshops, demos, and much more. Looking back, I see it was still a very busy time for all of us.
In late February, we celebrated Mardi Gras with a King Cake, which is a large New Orleans pastry with a little plastic baby baked inside it. Whoever found the baby in the cake won their choice of a music theme for a future Hump, which resulted in a Hip-Hop Hump in May.
On March 20, 2009, we created “The Hump CSPC's Wednesday Party” discussion group on FetLife, which remains online to this day. FetLife became an important part of publicizing upcoming CSPC events and information as it acts as an unofficial social network for members of the CSPC.
At the end of April, we held our first "taster" event, jokingly referred to as the Whump. This event was very much like the Try It, You'll Like It Party held on fifth Sundays as a quarterly event. Planning for this started late in 2008, but we waited for a fifth Wednesday to come up for it to happen.
A "taster" event typically had 10-12 stations that catered to different BDSM activities like flogging, rope, whips, claws, etc. Experienced Tops volunteered to share their specialty and give new members "a taste" of what a scene could be like. Experienced bottoms could volunteer to be the "stunt bottom" if the attendee wanted to learn any Topping activity. Attendee turns were regulated with sign-up sheets and prompts from the PA mike and/or event monitors.
Converting the Hump into the Whump meant closing the Back Room (no sexy time) and clearing out the Cuddle/Romp Pile, Solo Space, and Dance Floor to make room for the stations. The level of activity was much higher than any previous Hump and we gained a serious appreciation for the folks who ran the Grind and the Saturday BDSM Pan Parties. The event was well received and broke an attendance record (75), so we decided to do it twice a year.
In June, the Center celebrated its tenth year in operation. That same month the Center was also offered the remaining space in the building, which became the RAW Dungeon. Later that same month, the Hump broke another attendance record with 81 attendees.
In August after 81 weekly Humps, I finally took a night off. I have to admit it was a strange experience attending as opposed to working the event. Taking time off the "job" was a bit unusual for me. I guess volunteering in this community is just part of who I am. I ended up attending practically every Hump that was held–for eight years, seven months, and a week. That's a whole lot of Humps! :3
By September, the new RAW Dungeon was available for use and on the 16th, we had our 1st Whump at the Hump, an add-on party from 8pm-12am on the third Wednesday of the month. The "taster" event that was held at the end of September was re-named "Sweet Taste-ations". Yet another attendance record was broken on that night, this time at 93.
The second year ended with higher average attendance levels (60-70 attendees) and the Hump crew felt confident about the future. We had managed to break the attendance record three times! Even more good news for us would follow into the new year of 2010...
Until next time... :^)
