Lazy Bear Week Gets Hazy as Woodside Fire Smoke Fills Guerneville
Bears love to frolic in the woods every summer for Guerneville’s Lazy Bear Week. But this year, the coastal Sonoma County Woodside Fire is dampening the weeklong LGBTQ+ festival.
“We’ve started calling it hazy bear,” said Joey Pineda, an attendee visiting from Southern California. “This morning I woke up with the dirtiest boogers I’ve ever encountered in my life. But you know what? The bears are making do.”
The Woodside Fire burning near Jenner broke out Thursday afternoon. As of Friday morning, it grew to about 140 acres and was 30% contained.
Lazy Bear Week is a fundraising event for the LGBTQ+ “bear” community, a weeklong festival made up of pool parties, dances, campfires and social events. The bear subculture represents a wide array of larger, hairier and often bearded queer people.
“It’s a whole weekend where I don’t have to deal with straight people,” Pineda said. “I’m surrounded by my queer family and people that are encouragers, admirers, and folks who like bears.”
This year, the Lazy Bear Fund is celebrating its 30th anniversary, which officials said could be adjusted depending on the air quality.
Pineda and most of his friends decided to stick around for the rest of the weekend, even though the smoke was still thick on Friday morning. As a Californian, he’s used to living with the threat of wildfires.
“I’m just so used to hearing about fires and the droughts,” Pineda said. “What can we do but survive and keep moving forward?”
Pineda said Lazy Bear Fund officials have been transparent about air quality issues and encouraged people with health issues to stay indoors.
“What’s so resilient about the queer community is that we’re always looking out for each other,” Pineda said.
John Ledwith, the organization’s creative director and social media manager, said that as of Friday afternoon, air quality was purple, or very unhealthy.
“People are very aware of the smell and of the air quality,” said Ledwith. “We are keeping an eye on the situation and monitoring it, but people are still lining up to get into our pool parties.”
Ledwith said at least one pool party and several other events have been canceled because the smoke was too thick, and that only one person has contacted the organization about health concerns.
“No one has reached out to say they’re struggling,” Ledwith said. “The smoke is steadily improving as the day continues.”
The group is not offering refunds to people who leave early because the event is a fundraiser that has raised $100,000 for LYRIC Center for LGBTQQ+ Youth and $50,000 for Positive Images of Sonoma County.
Ledwith recommends that attendees follow its social media channels for event updates, download the Watch Duty app for fire updates and IQAIR for air quality updates.
When Ari Halevy arrived Thursday, it didn’t take him long before he decided that the smoke was too thick.
“The air quality index was off the charts,” Halevy said. “It felt like you were inside somebody’s barbecue.”
The smoke reminded Halevy, the Angeleno, of the fires that burned in Southern California, and he ultimately decided his health was at risk if he were to stay.
“I had to evacuate and stay with my friend, but the air quality was way worse from this in my opinion,” Halevy said. “It sucks not to be able to get any of my money back, but I don’t need to suffer anymore.”