Well this was another exhausting long weekend at Lupercalia.

Friday around noon I hopped on the Greyhound and went up to Edmonton, arriving sometime between 3:30 and 4pm. First on my agenda was unpacking, and then I went into the mall to get some food from the Drug Store that has a small grocery section. If there’s any survival tip I’ve learned from years earlier, it’s to have a small stash of snack and breakfast food available.

After getting dressed in my toga, I headed down to the convention hall. There were a number of volunteers that the Volunteer Coordinator had rounded up, and while others streamed into the main room for the Lupercalia Celebration (moved from Sunday this year to Friday night) we helped guests and presenters check in, let them know about all the things that were going on that weekend, and answered questions to the best of our ability to new folks who were attending their first Lupercalia. I even met one woman for whom this was her very first event at all! Kudos to those brave souls!

Because I was working at the registration table for the majority of the night, I didn’t get the chance to experience the Lupercalia Celebration – however since I had attended last year I wasn’t too worried. When I did go into the main hall, it was clear how many people were enjoying all of the different stations, and how many were just using the opportunity to meet and greet friends old and new. The vendors were set up in the reception area of the convention hall, and there were some amazing toys and tools set up – a fantastic sling from BuBuBear (http://www.bububear.ca), some beautiful wooden tools from Smart Fetish (http://smartfetish.com/), gorgeous leatherwork from the super-talented NoirLuna (http://www.noirluna.com/), stunning glass insertables from (http://www.4-eroticastores.com/) just to name a few of the things that caught my eye…

Although the festivities were still going on, and people were still socializing, I headed up to the king suite I was staying in, and went to bed – a good thing too, because Saturday morning came quickly. After a bite to eat from my shopping trip, I headed to the first workshop – “The Bratty Top” presented by Louise which was hilarious and fun – assisted by her lovely demo bottom who challenged Louise with her own form of brattyness! From there, I went to Elwood’s (http://www.allaboutelwood.com/) “Basic Play Piercing” workshop – an encore of a workshop he did two years ago – but since I’ve started practicing play piercing since attending the workshop, it was a great reminder about cross-contamination, practices, and techniques. 

After helping clean up the workshop room, I headed down into the mall and got some lunch, before returning to attend “Bringing Ritual into your Play” with Rena (and more Elwood….). It was a great workshop and I volunteered to be part of a demo along with another workshop guest, which was really interesting. Next I went to Elwood’s “The Art of Cutting” workshop where we abused poor tomatoes with disposable scalpels that were provided for us. 

The workshops that I was able to attend were fantastic, and with an extra stream of workshops added this year (there were four to choose from instead of three like in previous years I’d attended) it was even harder to choose what to attend. I was sorry to miss Beyond Catharsis with slave Rick, BDSM 201 with Bruce (one of the founding members of the Vancouver DM team – http://www.vandmteam.com) and Monique, Mummification with Lady Susan, How to Play at Parties presented by Sagacity’s Fisherman and Ladyfish (http:// http://www.sagacitygroup.net/), Submissives in Leadership presented by Sheryl Dee, Rope Bondage Suspension with Lew Rubens (http://www.boundndetermined.com/),  Military Scenes (which was loud enough to hear through the dividing walls!) with Sgt. Hell, a Sounds demonstration with Sir Scott (which I was lucky enough to have seen last year in Calgary at P3Gatherings (http://p3gatherings.com), Thunder Kiss with Master Skip (a co-owner of the Southwest Leather Conferencehttp://www.southwestleather.org), Leathersex for Women with Lorelei (who is a founder of the Alberta Leather Network http://www.albertaleathernetwork.com),  and a workshop on BDSM & the Law presented by Edmonton Police Service’s Detective Jim Morrissey.

After the Saturday workshops, I had a fantastic dinner at the Sawmill with a number of other Lupercalia guests, and from there got dressed, collected my toybag, and headed down to the private play party hosted by a separate group. Tickets for this party were not included in our Lupercalia ticket, however the price was very reasonable, and the night was very well attended. That night ran very long, which made the desire to sleep in the next morning very high….

Unfortunately my urge to sleep took precedence over my desire to see Master Skip’s “The Servant Master” workshop – however a friend who attended said it was an incredible experience. From there, we all headed into one of the other convention rooms for a gorgeous buffet spread, complete with a fantastic awards ceremony where the EOS thanked and honoured members of their community, and the Lupercalia committee thanked their volunteers and presenters. 

Following the brunch we attended two more workshops, Sheryl Dee’s “Degrees of Power” workshop, and Elwood’s “Spirit + Flesh” hook pull ritual which was moving and thought-provoking. From there I went for dinner with a friend, then went back to the convention hall for a run-through of that night’s entertainment- the Iron Dom competition. I had attended a previous Iron Dom at last year’s Conference of Kink (http://www.conferenceofkink.com/) in Vancouver, which pitted Peggy O (http://peggyakao.com) against Elwood. In this event, challenger Sgt. Hell competed against Iron Dom Sir Scott which made the audience howl with laughter – egged on only by the comments of the Chairman of Dungeon Stadium.

As Sir Scott defended his title and retained his Iron Dom status (which he’ll defend next year I hope!) with the assistance of volunteers, the space was re-created into play party space much like that of the night before. This party was a bit mellower, as many out of town guests like myself headed home, however was still a great experience.