Do you go to Pride Parades?

[Thad1527]

I like them!

I've been to Pride parades in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and Asbury Park. And several years ago, I won a trip to the Pride parade and festival in Dallas. (Thank you, Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. Please hold all your meetings in Dallas!)

The Southern Decadence parade in New Orleans qualifies as a pride parade, and I was there last Labor Day.

It's probably too early to plan for summer 2023, but maybe I'll start looking. I will likely be at Chicago's NortHalsted Market Days, their gayborhood festival in August. They have lots of musical acts and a great atmosphere.

If anybody needs company, I do travel.

 

[Kahaih]

Never had an inclination. Definitely not enough curiosity to drive 80 miles to the nearest.

Closest I've come is when two cock pheasants wandered between the kitchen window and the hedgerow.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Never had an inclination. Definitely not enough curiosity to drive 80 miles to the nearest.

Closest I've come is when two cock pheasants wandered between the kitchen window and the hedgerow.

Um, and by "cock pheasants," you mean wild birds, right?

 

[ShadowCat]

^ It is not a requirement to have someone to go with.

Get your ass off the couch and live.

Yeah but its more fun with friends, Id just feel out of place.

 

[72-Jay]

Id love to go beats the standard alternative of doing nothing but have no friends to go with!

Just go! either to the parade or the pride event itself.

Every time I've gone to a PrideFest, I've gone by myself.

----------
Back years ago I was hesitant to go to the Denver PrideFest (even though I really wanted to)... in part for the hing of going to a "gay event" and in part for "going by myself" .. someone on another gay forum I was a member of back then encouraged me to just go & don't worry about going alone.
Well I took that advice & when the day came, I got on the train & went down into the city! It was a pretty amazing feeling when I first walked onto PrideFest grounds.

---
So now I'm passing that same advice along: when your nearest city has its pride event: just get on the train/bus/drive yourself/etc and go go go!!
Seriously, don't worry about feeling out of place.

 

[rareboy]

Yeah but its more fun with friends, Id just feel out of place.

There is no 'place' to feel out of. It is a chance to actually meet others and to among a group of people celebrating. It is watching the parade and laughing and eating and drinking. It isn't an orgy.

 

[Vannie]

They made fun of my hat made of cabbages.

Never again.

 

[Kahaih]

Yeah but its more fun with friends, Id just feel out of place.

It is my understanding that these events were created to be your place. Safe. Inclusive. Welcoming.

And, besides that, how is anyone to know that you are there by yourself?

 

[Irish Queer]

I go yes but I feel disconnected, I don't feel part of the community it's celebrating. I don't see me or anyone like me at it tbh.

 

[justaguy]

I go yes but I feel disconnected, I don't feel part of the community it's celebrating. I don't see me or anyone like me at it tbh.

Interesting. What sort of person do you see yourself as, and what sort of person do you see at the parades?

 

[Irish Queer]

Interesting. What sort of person do you see yourself as, and what sort of person do you see at the parades?

I don't do the whole dress up if I can use that term, I just go in the clothes I wear everyday. Also it's more of a political view point Pride is a protest yet it seems content with the status quo, I see no you with my politics standing up and challenging things. But tbh I have never really found where I belong in the LGBT+ community.

 

[Araucaria]

I like to visit the parades and Pridefests here in Florida. Often I'll march with a contingent, such as the MCC church or a political organization. While in recent years there seems to be more emphasis on the social and business aspects than on the political, though I think that may change a bit this year, I take courage in the show of our numbers, and the fact that we have our own street or park for a day. When I grew up in Florida, there literally was no way that I could safely meet up with our kind, and the politicians are trying to make it that way again.

 

[Charon]

Nope.

 

[PalacePaul]

I don't do the whole dress up if I can use that term, I just go in the clothes I wear everyday. Also it's more of a political view point Pride is a protest yet it seems content with the status quo, I see no you with my politics standing up and challenging things. But tbh I have never really found where I belong in the LGBT+ community.

I feel the same. I feel disconnected from the "gay community" (if there is such a thing). I see Pride as a big party for the city boys and I'm not one of them.

 

[PrinceCory]

I've been to the Denver pride parade only once...but have gone to the pride festival there multiple times.
Have also gone to the pride festivals in both Aurora & Boulder a few times. (as far as I know neither of those even has a parade)

How would you describe the festivals? Is it like where they close down some streets and there are booths for sales and activities??

 

[PrinceCory]

I have never been to a pride parade. No such event within a few hundred miles of me. The closest location would be Denver Colorado which is about 3 hours by car. Wichita Ks would be about 5 hours away.

 

[Thad1527]

It varies by city. In Asbury Park, NJ the parade ends at a large park near Convention Hall. There's a stage and lots of vendors and information booths. In Philadelphia the parade ends at Penns Landing where there's also a stage and vendors. But October's Outfest is a street fair in Philadelphia's gayborhood, no parade.
Milwaukee's pride festival is held at their dedicated festival grounds, where there are many ethnic and musical festivals all summer. Pridefest kicks off the season. I don't remember what they do about a parade, but the festival is fun.

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

In Philadelphia the parade ends at Penns Landing where there's also a stage and vendors. But October's Outfest is a street fair in Philadelphia's gayborhood, no parade.

Malcolm Lazin is still doing his separatee Outfest thing? Or is Outfest sufficiently established as something independent from Philly Pride that it's not about his grudges anymore?

 

[Thad1527]

Outfest has a life of its own now. Lazin's PrideFest hasn't been a thing for years. Nobody local seemed to go to that, but you'd see everybody you know at the street fair.
Philly Pride has had a fairly major breakdown and the parade is under new management.

 

[72-Jay]

How would you describe the festivals? Is it like where they close down some streets and there are booths for sales and activities??

Like Thad1527 said, it varies by city..
In Denver its held in a park & the streets surrounding that park are closed. Booths with information & selling items/food are lined along the closed streets. Within the park there are a few different stages setup .. the 'main stage' where they do various mini-concerts/drag-shows/etc .. the 'dance stage' where there's a DJ playing EDM type music .. the 'latin stage' where they do spanish/latin music(and maybe shows)
I'll generally walk through the vendor booths area just to see what they have, then alternate between the main stage & DJ one.

In Boulder, its much smaller & again held in a park, with only one street closed for booths. And just a single stage for music/shows.

Aurora is smaller than Boulder & held fully within one section of a park by a lake.

I've never been to CO Springs, (mainly due to the 90+ minute drive to get there). But as far as I can tell, its smaller than Denver, but bigger than Boulder, so a setup somewhere between what those 2 have.
There's a couple other small ones around too, but I have yet to go to any of them.