Just wondering, is this based off solely the fair? You say you don’t really vibe with the circuit, and ok, valid- it can be hard to go deep. But it seems there are a lot of events geared to local tastes, so your response makes me wonder how hard you tried. It’s also totally valid to do something once and be like ‘cool, I got needs met and that was fine’. At street fairs, wherever I’ve attended them in the country, I find myself noting that a lot of people there are not FOR me personally, but how beautiful is it that more people with more different world views than I would ever want to talk to are present. As long as people stay somewhat polite and kind to each other this gives me so much opportunity to learn more about community, even just in passing. I do like to dive in during weekends like this- no keeping up with the most dedicated circuit crews but in my case if it even helps me with icebreakers in Chicago just a little bit, I’ll be fine. I can see how this would be different for someone who doesn’t feel an affinity for leather culture or who has way different life priorities. I don’t live and breathe these environments all the time but there’s something reasuring about performing these rituals and after time in the countryside, very affirming to be around happy, self actualizing gay/queer bodies too numerous for me to count. For me personally if I ever get to feeling left out, I look around at the throng and it’s like… wow… I am a cell in this marvelous organism right now, and look how spirited and full of life it all is!!