From Picnic to Pride: 2013 South Bay Pride Art & Music Festival
What started out in 2006 as a picnic in the park for about 200 LGBT people in southern San Diego County had grown to approximately 1,600 participants by 2011. Now, after a one-year hiatus, South Bay Pride is back. Billed primarily as an art and music festival, the 2013 event is set for Saturday, September 14 at Bayfront Park in Chula Vista.
Presented by the South Bay Alliance Association, this is an all-volunteer organization working to build a coalition in the LGBT community and its allies for social networking, business promotion and political awareness. South Bay Pride is especially important in the Chula Vista area, which is more conservative in terms of LGBT acceptance and pro-LGBT voting patterns. In addition, the alliance promotes fun, free, family-oriented events that people from all walks of life can enjoy.
"We are more of a community pride event," says Dae Elliott, one of the alliance's longtime leaders and an organizer of this year's South Bay Pride. "We aren't in direct competition with San Diego Pride; we are oriented toward our local area and are more of a thank you celebration." Driving home the spirit of non-competitiveness, Elliott pointed out that "San Diego Pride is a sponsor of our event; they've really been great in supporting us."
The San Diego Gay Men's Chorus will also be performing at the South Bay extravaganza, in addition to other local entertainers including Laura Jane, Sue Palmer and The Social Animal.
According to Elliott, the anticipated 2012 event was ultimately cancelled due to a badly-timed set of personal issues that afflicted each of the three core group members and the inability of a secondary, less-experienced leadership group to pull things together. "This year is coming together very well," Elliott stated reassuringly. "We're very excited."
Festivities are planned from noon to 5 p.m. and in addition to the live musical performances, a high-energy dance stage helmed by exciting DJs, there will be a Children's Garden with engaging, educational activities for LGBT-headed families; Mo's Playground Wine and Beer Garden, featuring several top brands from San Diego County vintners and brewers; a variety of food vendors and unique works by local artists on display.
And now that same-sex marriage is legal once more in California, the South Bay Alliance will be hosting a "My Gay Wedding" contest during the event. Three fabulous, all-inclusive wedding packages, complete with photography, Champagne and a honeymoon gift registry, will be awarded to one male couple, one female couple and one active military same-sex couple. To enter the contest, the pairs must submit an online application and a two-minute video through southbay.org or southbayalliance.net no later than Wednesday, September 4. The public is invited to vote on each video via the South Bay Pride Facebook page.
Elliott, who is a professor of sociology at San Diego State University, shared her hopes for the future of SB Pride. "I'd like to see it grow to around 8,000-10,000 attendees," she said. "The idea is similar to other Pride events: we want to turn around and support our local community, especially by reaching out to the youth of our area who can't get up to Hillcrest."
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