American
Brotherhood Weekend started in 1989 with MCL Productions
helmed by Mike Miller in Boston. It started out solely as
the American Leatherman contest. Eventually Mike added
American Leatherwoman, then American Cowboy, and later
American Leatherboy. He tried American Cowgirl, but there
was little interest and support for the title, so it never
really took off.
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American
Brotherhood weekend was kept aloft by the hard work and
dedication of the American Leatherman 1991 and 1992, Jose
Alberto Ucles. He held this title for two years, continuing
his committment to seeing ABW return and prosper.
In 1996,
Jim Cobb bought the rights to all of the titles, and
immediately leased them to ABLE Productions, Inc. the
company that Jim started with Roger Fleming, Howard Fleming,
and Vern Stewart. Jim sold the American Cowboy and Cowgirl
rights to Dan Noel, American Cowboy 1995 (the last person to
hold the title) and it has not seen any action since then.
Since
1997, the American Leatherfamily has been gaining more and
more prominence and notoriety around the country. In 2002,
Jim sold the American Brotherhood Weekend and the American
Leatherfamily titles to American Brotherhood Weekend, Inc.,
a company owned at that time by Frank Nowicki. Scott
Reikofski, Max Steiner and Schelli Dittmann. Ryan Goldner
joined as a producer in 2003, he was announced along with
the American Leathergirl title to thunderous applause. The
most recent development has been American Brotherhood
Weekend, Inc. changing ownership to Frank Nowicki and
Schelli Dittmann with the addition of Sheryl Dee as a
producer of the event.
The
American LeatherFamily travels year round as ambassadors of
American Brotherhood Weekend and of the Leather Community.
They make appearances from coast to coast to judge contests,
hold fundraisers and attend leather events both large and
small. At all of these functions the titleholders’ job is to
promote ABW, spread brotherhood and encourage all of our
community to reach out to those who are interested or
curious about the Leather/Fetish community as well as the
Gay/Lesbian community.
