Heritage South Florida LGBT Event Celebrates 35 Years
By Rory Barbarossa
This Saturday and Sunday, March 10 and 11, Pride South Florida rolls out the 35th annual “Pridefest: Beyond the Rainbow” at Fort Lauderdale’s Holiday Park and War Memorial Auditorium, with events taking place all week at local venues throughout Greater Fort Lauderdale, including Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, and elsewhere, embracing an off-site Official After Party.
Pride South Florida, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, is composed entirely of volunteers with a mission to promote positive images of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) individuals. The group also actively furthers the progress of educational, civic and cultural activities in order to enrich the lives of LGBT persons and the larger South Florida community as a whole, working together to achieve common goals. Pridefest is the organization’s signature annual event, with all proceeds generated being donated to other local charities and LGBT community organizations.
Organizers are faced with the typical challenges of throwing a large outdoor event, as well as the peculiarities of a recovering economy, and the realities of demographics: in a world where gays are actively courted to destination places across the globe, and where gay couples bedecked in red can hold hands walking down Main Street, USA, during Orlando’s “Gay Days,” can they keep this heritage festival relevant?
“Very much so,” emphasizes co-chair Marc Hansen, who—in one capacity or other—has served on Pride South Florida’s board for years. “The very existence of ‘Gay Days’ and other great organized events can trace their roots to—and thank their lucky stars for— the sort of outdoor festival we are bringing to life. This is especially true at the time in which we are living,” he adds.
“Think about it: DADT [the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy], done. Gay marriage: on the books. Marriage equality is on the lips of every Republican candidate. Sadly, most oppose it. But these are the sorts of issues we come together and celebrate at Pridefest,” says Hansen. “I love the very idea of ‘Orlando Gay Days,’ and the fact that kids are taking their same-sex boyfriends and girlfriends to prom in places that wouldn’t have dreamed of it when I was that age,” the Pridefest co-chair and former U.S. service member insists.
“But that sort of gets lost during some other events that celebrate being LGBT. At Pridefest, we open the doors to everyone celebrating the very things that give us ‘Pride,’ and to acknowledge the struggles that lie ahead ahead.” He laughs. “Pluto and Donald won’t help you do that.”
Hansen also notes the abundance of space and entertainment they have on the menu. For its 35th anniversary year, Pridefest 2012 will have outdoor and indoor stages, to take advantage of the air-conditioned War Memorial Auditorium, which will likewise host vendors and a display of Florida’s largest HIV/AIDS Memorial Quilt. In addition, the event will feature worldclass entertainers, including Logo TV’s Jonathan D. Lovitz, comedian Michelle Balan of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and Logo’s “Out Laugh Festival,” NBC’s “The Voice” finalist Beverly McClellan, Billboard Dance/Club Play recording artist and songwriter Julissa Veloz (“Tiara Girl” in season eight of “American Idol”), South Florida performer Tony Cruz, comedy-hypnotist Jon Simon (“Simon Sez”), legendary Freestyle artist Ray Guell, and the Pridefest headliner, 18-time Billboard Top Ten recording artist Taylor Dayne, among others.
The event will also include a dance tent equipped with an enormous dance floor area, as well as more than 250 vendors, music, food, and activities all day, and lots of opportunity to socialize and connect with friends old and new.
Pridefest 2012: Beyond the Rainbow, takes place both days from noon until 7 p.m. Holiday Park and the War Memorial Auditorium are located at 800 NE 8th Street in Fort Lauderdale, directly south of Sunrise Blvd. and directly east of Federal Highway/US 1.
More information on PrideFest can be found online at pridesouthflorida.org
