Bear History: 20 years of Moscow Bears - 10 killer facts
Bear History FUR-bruary Month goes on. Time to share some killer facts about one surprising formation, Moscow Bears club from Russia.
1. The first meeting of Moscow bears took place in the summer of 1999. Announcement was made via young internet, good 5 people came to the picnic. Today, three of them are still there at every club event. The organizer of the first meetings was KhimBear.
2. The first name of the club - Moscow Bears Club "Medvezhy".
3. 2009 saw rebranding of the club, in honor of the 10th anniversary of the club - a new logo was developed, and the name was simplified to MOSCOW BEARS. The star in the colors of the bear flag is an analogue of the Kremlin star, the symbol of Moscow.
4. Until 2013, Moscow Bears was the only bear club in Russia until the appearance of the St. Petersburg club SPBears. Gradually, clubs of Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, the Far East started to develop, too.
5. For 20 years, Moscow Bears holds the meetings with largest regular attendance, both monthly and weekly - not only bears from Moscow, but other cities of Russia join the events. There is growing number of guests coming from other countries, as well.
6. The club has no formal membership. Anyone who participates in events can consider himself a member of the club.
7. The age range of participants in Moscow Bears events is very wide - from 19 to 77 years old. Recent years has seen a large influx of younger bears up to 30 years, largely due to the audience of the bear groups in the Telegram app.
8. For three years now, the Moscow Bears has been serving as the election organizer for Mr Bear Russia. By the way, Mr Bear Russia 2018 Roman will be a guest of Tallinn Bearty in Estonia, and will also represent Russia at the elections of Mr Bear Europe in Italy (May 2019).
9. The slogan of the Moscow Bears club is a line from an old Soviet song "I will never forget a friend once I became friends with him in Moscow"
10. 2 years ago, Moscow Bears and Norway Bears clubs walked around Red Square, holding a bear flag in their hands. That was a true Tilda Swinton moment.
(TB) Tallinn Bearty’s mission is to power bear brotherhood in a way that will advance equal rights for everyone, in or out of our own community, across borders.