Past events
A year-by-year sketch of the retreat's run. Detail varies - some years are remembered well in the public record, others survive only in fragments. Where information is incomplete we say so rather than fill it in.
1996 - The first retreat
The inaugural gathering. A small group of organizers brought together leatherfolk from Indianapolis and the surrounding Midwest scene for a weekend of classes, conversation, and community. Records of that first year are sparse; what survives is the memory among long-time attendees that it felt like the start of something.
1997 - 1999
The retreat returned each summer with a steadily growing roster of presenters and an expanding class catalog. By the end of the decade the format was settled: a long weekend at a camp setting, all-inclusive, classes during the day, social and play programming at night.
2002 - 2005
Through the early 2000s the retreat grew its educational lineup, with sessions on rope, impact, M/s structure, leather family dynamics, fire, and branding. Volunteer crews became more formalized: registration, dungeon, programming, safety. The retreat's reputation for seriousness about education was established in this period.
2006 - 2009
Mid-decade saw the retreat draw presenters from outside the immediate region - rope educators, kink authors, and lifestyle teachers from across the country. Pre-event days (Wednesday and Thursday before the main weekend) became a regular option for attendees who wanted more time at the camp.
2010
A representative year for which the public record is well preserved. The class catalog included roughly 40 workshops spanning rope (Hogties, Rope Bondage Basics, Rope Bottom's Boot Camp, Bondage for Sex), edge play (Flesh Hook Suspensions, Fucking as Edge Play, Branding 101, Fundamentals of Cutting), psychological play (Mindfuck, Creative Humiliation, Embarrass/Humiliate/Degrade/Objectify), M/s and protocol (Discipline and Correction in M/s, Master/slave Getting Started, Managing Multiple Submissives, Leather Family Dynamics), and sensation/sex (Tantric Sex, Partner Yoga, Foot Fetish for Everyone, Piss Play).
Presenters that year included Lee Harrington, Lochai, Klawdya Rothschild, Sarah Sloane, Princess Kali, Julian Wolf, Lolita Wolf, Sacred Mark Sanctuary (Captain Gordon and Abe), Sir C, Claire Adams and Damon Pierce, and others. See the presenters and workshops pages for the broader archive.
2011 - 2015
The retreat held steady at its mature scale. Returning presenters, returning attendees, a tightened curriculum that balanced foundational skills with deeper relationship and protocol work. Long-time community members sometimes describe these years as the peak.
2016 - 2019
The final years of the original retreat run. The community continued to gather, but the leather event landscape was shifting - with new gatherings emerging, others consolidating, and the costs and labor of running a long-format camp event rising. By the end of the decade the retreat as it had existed was wound down.
Looking for active leather and D/s gatherings today? Regional clubs, contests, and educational weekends are still running across North America. The Leather Archives & Museum maintains a broader directory of community events and history.