Pridefest At Its Best
On March 10th and 11th thousands of proud people flocked to Holiday Park at the War Memorial Auditorium in Fort Lauderdale for Pridefest 2007. As the largest Pride festival in Florida, this year's celebration marked 30 years of Pride presence in the area. This year also continued the tradition of Pridefest's annual great music, food, drinks and plenty of rainbow adornments. Holiday Park thrived both days from 12pm to 8pm.
Pridefest was sponsored by Pride South Florida, which is a non-profit organization that promotes positive images of the GLBT community. Pridefest officials continue to give back to the community after the festival weekend, by giving 100 percent of all monies raised to local GLBT organizations in the form of grants.
As stated in this year's Pride program, Co-Chair of the festival Mike Cruz states, "Pridefest is a celebration and tribute to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and its unique culture."
Festival attendees walked throughout the park to more than 250 vendors that gave them key chains, can koozies, magazines and many reasons to be proud. In addition to the free S.W.A.G. there was an Arts United art pavilion featuring local GLBT artists and their work, an exhibit by the Broward County Sheriff's Office that displayed the history of Pride in South Florida and a portion of the Names Project Foundation's famous AIDS Quilt.
Both days of the festival featured impressive national acts, such as headliner performers Ari Gold and God-Des and She, and rocker J.D. Danner who all joined the music bill. Local clubs and bars continued the party into the night by providing the community with special events both Saturday and Sunday.
However, Pridefest is not all about the party, as it also celebrates differences and supports many political movements locally and nationally. Some booths had more of this political focus, as they educated attendees on current GLBT issues and explained ways that individuals can get involved to help. Equality signs were everywhere, from T-shirts to stickers - the concept of being equal was definitely present.
In addition to local gay businesses, many supporters of the GLBT community were vendors, advertisers and even sponsors of the event. This participation was yet another way to promote diversity, and support the local community.
Because next year's Pridefest is already in planning stages, officials want everyone to know that it is being moved later in the spring to the weekend of April 19th and 20th, 2008. Mark your calendars!