By —Amanda Farrell
Nov 07 2007
Sagacity celebrates seven years with their biggest bash yet
Over lunch at the Bird of Paradise Pub, Ladyfish fondly recalls the first Sagacity meeting seven years ago at this very establishment. Only six people attended that fateful meeting, but the group quickly grew so fast it had to find another home.
“We met in the corner there by the dart board,” she says. “But as our group grew, we started to realize as our conversation continued the dart people were getting closer and the game came to a standstill.”
Now, Sagacity boasts 45 to 60 people at their regular Tuesday night meetings (“It’s a better turnout than they have at the Rotary,” Ladyfish quips) and throws regular play parties and fetish events, such as this weekend’s Birthday Bash at the Harbour Towers Hotel. The group has become established as one of the Pacific Northwest’s premiere fetish groups and welcomes all kinds of kinky people, from those looking for a little light rope play to folks into full body suspension.
“I believe everybody is kinky. When you were a child, you played dress up, you played doctor, you played horsie. It was fantasy and fun and you could be anything,” she says. “So what happened? Who decided at what point in history that was not okay?”
This program for this weekend’s Birthday Bash conference reflects Sagacity’s diverse group of kinksters. With a formal Friday night meet and greet, workshop topics ranging from polyamoury to burlesque striptease to needle play, erotic art presentations and a Saturday night play party, there’s sure to be something there to tickle everyone’s fancy.
This year’s bash represents a lot of strides forward for Sagacity. For one, it’s the first year they’ve had it at the Harbour Towers Hotel; the group had to relocate after it outgrew its old venue at the Traveler’s Inn. Finding a new venue was tough, says Ladyfish, as people were reluctant to be associated with a group like Sagacity.
“Once they realized what I was saying they’d say, ‘Oh, you’re one of those people,’” she says of trying to get sponsors. Ladyfish and her fellow Sagacity members have spent a lot of time combatting the stereotype of the kink community being solely made up of people clad in $350 PVC outfits lurking in dungeons.
“There are extreme aspects of kink, but there are extreme aspects of everything. Some people jump out of planes,” she says, adding, “I don’t like how the media is very quick to associate kink and sex. We don’t allow it at any Sagacity events.”
Sagacity is also offering partial tickets to this weekend’s event for the first time as a way to allow people to dip their toes into the land of kink and see just how diverse and welcoming the community is.
“We’re known throughout the kink community as being a classy organization with just the right titch of reverence. We are the antithesis of exclusivity,” she says of Sagacity’s reputation. “A lot of kinky people are so grateful they have a place to go where they are so accepted that they don’t discriminate because it would be hypocritical.”
Reflecting on seven years, Ladyfish says the group’s goal is to eventually find a permanent home of its own.
“We’d like to have a place we can afford and is okay with what we do because we don’t lie about it. We never do,” she says.
Birthday Bash VII
November 9-10
Harbour Towers Hotel
Tickets and info at www.sagacitygroup.net
