By John Hayden
South Florida’s leather and kink community is a big, tight family that rivals those in San Francisco and Berlin. The best of that is on display for Florida Leather Week, which ran from Nov. 7-15, 2026. Nine days and nights of parties, contests, food, gear and more.
While the week is a celebration of the leather community, Eagle’s Chuck King says don’t let the name keep you away. “It’s open to everyone. Everyone should feel comfortable. It’s about the celebration of being you, whatever that means.”
Eagle Wilton Manors is the epicenter of the action, hosting 14 of the events. The two-weekend event starts Saturday, Nov. 7 with the Opening Leather Walk and flag raising. Leathermen will gather at Richardson Park at 5:30. They will unfurl their flags and line up for the march to Eagle. At 7:30 PM they will raise the flags. The official kickoff party starts at 9 PM.
Bring your appetite Sunday for a classic autumn tradition: the chili cook-off. That happens at Eagle at 6:30 PM followed by Leather Night down the street at Ramrod.
Party themes during the week include harness, pup, critter, and handler, a night for Onyx, and Red Hanky (IYKYK).
The marquee events are Friday and Saturday nights. Friday is Mr. Eagle Wilton Manors at 7 PM (and they mean it). The annual competition sees some of the finest leathermen in South Florida showing off their wardrobe, bodies, and eloquence.
The winner will represent EagleWM at International Mr. Leather (IML) in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend. Contestants will hold a meet and greet at Eagle Thursday at 8 PM.
The big headline of the year is the return of Boundless Block Party, Alternative Lifestyle Street Fair. Sponsors bailed left and right and the event was canceled. This year many corporate partners and private donors appeared, giving more than $7,000.
The party goes down in the parking lot of the Gray Box Theater and Wilton Collective on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 2-10 p.m. There will be plenty of play space catering to leather/kink veterans and those who want to experiment or ask questions about topics but have been too afraid to ask.
“The street performers will rock your world,” King said. “There’s a lot of surprises and local entertainers.”
The keynote speech topic is Leather Lived. “We have professional educators that have done this for a long time,” King said.
Indeed, while many see only the physical side of kink and leather, that’s only half the experience. The mental side is just as sexy and just as complicated. King and his team are putting a focus on mental health.
“It’s about the headspace of bondage play in a judgment-free zone. It’s everyone’s chance to take part and learn things on the non-vanilla side,” King said.
A week like this would be hard to pull off in almost any other city. King says South Florida finds community because people often migrate here once they’ve experienced many facets of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“It’s partially that we have an older demo here from small-town rural areas. They come with experience and they come with knowledge. They don’t have to find themselves. We have a shared community in experience and age and everything in between.”
Many of the events are free, some come with a small admission fee. For the full schedule and details on all events, visit FloridaLeatherWeek.com.
