This was the 30th Fetish Fair Fleamarket hosted by the New England Leather Alliance (NELA). They hold two each year; the summer Flea in Boston and the Winter Flea. Up to this point, that too has been held primarily in Boston although it has had other venues. But it was always a Massachusetts event. This year, it moved to Providence, RI for a number of reasons - not least of which is the fact that in MA, one can not legally consent to be hit. That can be a problem in the BDSM world and has been in the past. Rhode Island allows consenting adults to have at it if they wish.
I arrived at Mistress' house in MA on Thursday afternoon and we immediately started loading the van for the trip. A few weeks ago, I had gone down along with my stable pal Ponyboy Stormy to help her build some stalls for this event. Now it was time to load them into the van. Eight stalls fit easily into the minivan leaving room for a lot more luggage. Good thing. Ponies and their handlers do not travel light. It took us a couple of hours to get everything in. In addition to the disassembled stalls, there were two suitcases, half a dozen garment bags, tack bags, food, cooler, legal warning signs, jumps, dressage cones, grid panels, a table, chairs, whips, grooming supplies and one laptop. But all of it went in.
Once the van was packed, I presented Mistress with my tack. I had ordered it in October from Buck at Water Hole Custom Leather but had kept the design details a secret up to this point. Most people in the scene have tack made from black leather. In fact, just about all the leather I see in the scene is black. I don't do black leather and neither does Mistress. My tack is mahogany with dark green edging and bass hardware. I chose these colors because they are Mistress' favorites and the colors of her stable. I wanted no doubt in anyone's mind to whom I belonged. In addition, the belt had not only my name on it, but hand-tooled roses and myrtle leaves for a design. Mistress is a priestess of Aphrodite and has named her stable after Her. Roses and myrtle are sacred to Aphrodite, so that created another connection. She is efficient with words and didn't say a lot, but she didn't have to. The smile on her face said it all.
After the presentation, Mistress tacked me up so she could see how it all went together. One doesn't want to be figuring these things out in front of an audience at a large public event, after all. Everything fit perfectly. Buck truly outdid himself.
A quiet dinner conversation with friends who came by to visit (another presentation of the tack to them) followed and then it was time for bed.
The next day we got on the road by 11 a.m. and headed to Providence. It was a rainy day but our spirits were high all the same. It took about an hour to get to the Westin in Providence where we met up with Stormy, who had driven in from Connecticut. The three of us checked into our room and then began the process of unloading the van and setting up the pony paddock. It took about four hours to get it all up and looking attractive. The engineering and planning had all paid off and the stalls went together without a problem. They were built from picket fence sections and looked very nice all lined up against one wall.
Our work for the day finished, we sought out an inexpensive meal. We found that at the Providence Place Mall, which is connected to the Westin Hotel via a sky bridge. The food court hosted a surprisingly good Indian restaurant and we ate there.
Mistress had to go to the Biltmore Hotel to pick up her presenter's packet and bracelets for Stormy and I. Because we were helping her to host the paddock as her ponies and had put so much effort into the project, we were able to get free admission to the Flea, which would otherwise have cost an incredibly cheap $15 for both days. Still, free is free! Stormy and I followed Mistress to the Biltmore because we planned to attend the Masquerade Ball the following night and needed to pick up our tickets. When we got to the 17th floor of the Biltmore there was a fashion show going full tilt in the grand ballroom. The Biltmore was built at some point in the 1920s and has a magnificent ballroom as many hotels of that era did. This one did not disappoint.
Mistress took care of her transactions while Stormy and I amused ourselves watching the models walking about in what must be considered high fashion in the fetish world. Yours truly spent a great deal of time carefully watching a gorgeous man in a black leather sailor's outfit that was suitably tight in all the right places. Add to that a number of "cops" also attending, and my uniform fetish was getting quite a workout. There were headdresses made with fiber optics, unicorns, dragons, voluptuous models who looked half starved but could probably have taken a strong man down if he tried anything, and just about anything else you could imagine. All very creative and interesting.
The highlight for me was the performance of Dominique Immora, a multi-talented performance artist who did a tasteful strip tease act while keeping a hula hoop going around not only her waist, but her chest, neck and arms. A truly masterful performance and very tastefully done. I was astounded and spellbound.
There was a pool party back at the Westin that I decided to check into, but I didn't stay for long. Instead I decided to go back to the hotel room and relax. Mistress and Stormy had gone back to the fashion show but arrived back at the room less than an hour after I did. More conversation and a little night cap, and we were in bed asleep.
More later.
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