Mr. West Coast Olympus Leather Andrew Love
of Salt Lake City became Mr. Olympus Leather 2008
with
Mr. Great Lakes Olympus Leather Flash as runner-up.

Ms Southeast Olympus Leather Mistress Sabrae Michaels
from Hoover, AL
was chosen to be
Ms Olympus Leather
with
Ms West Coast Olympus Leather
Mina Fatale taking runner-up.

The weekend was full of events and was well attended with the largest crowd that Pantheon has seen in its seven year in Chicago. The meet and greet with Olympus Leather contestants' travel fund basket auction saw Touché packed to the rafters. Karen "Ultra" Crecelius worked the auction, garnering some $2,900. Frank Nowicki introduced the Mr. and Ms Olympus contestants who drew their numbers. Rubberwilli introduced the Mr. Midwest Rubber contestants and judges.

Prior to this, the Chicago Leather Kennel Club sponsored Kinky Cocktails, a formal evening with cocktails and food at the Leather Archives and Museum which saw about 50 Leatherfolk participate. No dollar figures were available, but Leather Archives director Rick Storer was all smiles afterward. Following Kinky Cocktails, the crowd made the short two-block walk over to Touché for the Pantheon, Olympus and Midwest Rubber meet and greet.
LeatherSINS, NFP hosted a pansexual play party at their dungeon for Pantheon of Leather package holders on Saturday night. LeatherSINS president Master Z reported that nearly 50 people from Pantheon were among those in attendance. Another play party was going on at the Steamworks and many Pantheon attendees were there.

Six women and three men vied for the Mr. and Ms Olympus Leather 2008 titles on Saturday, July 19 in the theater above the Chicago Eagle, including Ms Great Plains Olympus Leather 2007 Lace, Mr. Central Canada Olympus Leather 2007 Reginald Dennis, Ms Southeast Olympus Leather 2007 Mistress Sabrae, Ms and Mr. Great Lakes Olympus Leather 2007. Lady Justice and Flash, Kate Redmon was appointed the Ms Florida Olympus Leather, Mr. and Ms West Coast Olympus Leather 2008 Andrew Love and Mina Fatale, and Jeanne, an independent from Philadelphia, PA.

George Wong returned as head judge with Ms Olympus Leather 2007 Angela Albert from Ottawa, Canada, Dr. Lawrence Burden from Los Angeles, CA, Karen "Ultra" Crecelius from St. Louis, MO and Master Z from Chicago, IL. George Hester and John Prather were the contestant coordinators and International Ms Boot Black 1999 Leslie Anderson was the tally master. RJ Chaffin, Gary Chichester and Dean Ogren produced the contest and awards shows. The contest started exactly at 5 PM and ended exactly at 9 PM. The contest show opened with Paul Sullenger's The Sound of Leather, a rendition of The Sound of Music and the crowd was immediately impressed. Other songs from The Sound of Music included Climb Every Mountain, a step down fantasy by Ms Olympus Leather 2007 Angela Albert with Miss Foozie. All of the fantasies were hot and the judges had their work cut out for them.

Earlier in the day on Saturday, while the contestants, judges and show staff were busy with interviews and rehearsals, Touché hosted a pancake breakfast followed by flogging and strapping demos presented by Brent McGuinness of the Chicago Hellfire Club.
Little Jim's hosted a fabulous bunch on Sunday morning in the Boys Town area of Chicago. It was a long way to the Leather Archives and Museum from there, but Little Jim's manager Jef Morgan had to be pleased with the huge turnout. Those attending the brunch were pleased with the spread and the bloody mary buffet.

Gary Chichester and Dean Ogren produced the Pantheon of Leather Community Service Awards Show on Sunday afternoon. It was set to last for two hours, but was over early. George Hester took the place of Joanne Gaddy in playing the role of Vannah, handing each award to its recipient as they appeared on stage to accept their award. Just over half of the award winners were present which is about average for Pantheon of Leather. Man of the Year Rick Storer and Woman of the Year Glenda Rider accepted their awards at the end of the show and the four President's Award winners, Steve Ganzell, Vick Germany, Philip Redmond and Eric Lawrence were there near the end of the show to accept their honors. Tom Stice accepted the Forbear Award on behalf of his late Master Jack Stice. Early on, Dr. Lawrence Burden accepted the Southern California Regional Award from last year's winner George Wong. Justin Tanis of Albuquerque, NM was on hand to receive the Southwest Regional Award as was South Central Regional Award winner Olivier Pratt. Nikitas Chondroyannos accepted the Business of the Year honor for www.recon.com and Robert "Dr. Bob" Rubel received the Community Choice (Man) Award. Jay Hemphill accepted the Couple of the Year Award on behalf of his lover Michael Holeman from 2007 co-winner Dean Ogren. Someone from LIFE Detroit was on hand to receive their Small Non Profit Organization of the Year Award. Other awards were accepted by friends of the winners.

The weekend closed with a victory party sand barbecue at the Jackhammer. There were plenty of hamburgers and Chicago-style hot dogs to feed an army.
Philip Redmond, who was named recipient of a President's Award and having the club that he cofounded, the Windy City Boys Troop win Small Club of the Year a little over an hour earlier was the "winner" of the Mr. International Saliva 2008 Contest. Mr. Olympus Leather 2008 performed his first "duty" with the title as a good sport when several "contestants" licked him from head to toe. It was a tie between Redmond and Jazz Salcedo, but Redmond was determined to be the winner/victim in a lick-off. One would have to have been there - second thought...
Mr. Chicago Leather 2006 Robin Czar served as event coordinator and was voted onto the Pantheon board at the organization annual general meeting following the Awards Show on Sunday afternoon. The souvenir program was designed by Ferdinand Libunao and was a vast improvement from that of past years.

The Selection Panel 2008 included Pandora, Guy Baldwin, John Prather, Mike Zuhl and Matt Vertz, Dan Falkenham, Gwen Hardy, Master Taino, Master Z Chicago, Scott Erickson, Connie Cox, Robert Valin, Cheryl Spector, Jon Langoni, Dexter Edmond, George Wong, George Hester, Joee Arteaga, Lady Justice, Philip Deitch, Michelle Jackson, Caron “Caro” Ryer, and Dr. Richard Sprott.

The Best Western Hawthorne Terrace and Heart O Chicago were the host hotels.
The Caesar level corporate sponsor was the Steamworks; Senate level were Folsom Street Events, Touché, Jackhammer/The Hole, Patrician level were JJ's Clubhouse; Eagle LA, LeatherSINS, NFP; DomCon: LA and DomCon: Atlanta, Florida Fetish Weekend, Shel-DON, Little Jim's and Southeast Olympus Leather.