Harbour City Bears

Harbour City Bears are Sydney’s only community group for Bears – hairy gay men – as well as our admirers and friends.

We organise more than 140 events each year, including weekly social gatherings, quarterly dance parties, group dinners, and various community outings.

The highlights of our calendar are our two major annual festivals: Bear Essentials and Bear Pride.

We currently have over 1,200 active members, making us the largest Bear association in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the largest in the world!

We host a wide range of events throughout the year:

Festivals: Bear Essentials (held during Sydney’s Mardi Gras season) and Bear Pride (in the cooler month of August) These are Australia’s most popular gay Bear community festivals, attracting visitors from around the world to celebrate Sydney’s vibrant Bear culture.

Dance parties: Our quarterly Bear Pit parties and the iconic UnderBEAR underwear party during Mardi Gras
Weekly social meetups: Every Friday night (our party night – great for dancing!) and every Sunday afternoon (a relaxed social catch-up)

Community activities: Group dinners, games nights, first-aid courses, picnics, and more
Charity fundraising: Supporting a variety of community causes

Harbour City Bears is a not-for-profit organisation. All profits from our events and fundraising activities are reinvested into the club or donated to the community charities we support.