Pride’s Pink Saturday faces major changes
Pink Saturday, one of the city's premier Pride events, could be drastically changed this year in order to help cover the costs of producing the party and raising more money for LGBT charities.
Without a revamp to the Castro Street party, the organizers of the event have threatened to end their involvement in its planning, which for more than two decades has drawn hundreds of thousands of revelers to the Castro District the night prior to the Pride Parade the last Sunday of June. For 15 years the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have hosted the event, collecting donations at the gates that are then donated to LGBT groups.
Last year's party, however, cost $59,000 with $90,000 raised at the gates and another $7,000 donated by merchants to pay for portable toilets. After handing out their charitable grants, the Sisters were left with $267. Due to the diminishing returns on their investment, the group of drag nuns came close to ending their involvement with the event.
Meeting since last July to discuss how to rework Pink Saturday so that it is financially doable, the Sisters landed on the idea of transforming it into more of a nighttime version of the Castro Street Fair, duplicating that daytime event's use of food vendors and beer booths to raise money. In addition, the Sisters have proposed setting up stages and DJ booths throughout an expanded footprint for the Pink party to provide entertainment for the crowd.
For the plan to go forward, however, city officials must first approve it, including a cash-strapped police department that has to cover the overtime costs of staffing Pink Saturday. The Sisters had planned to present their proposal this morning (Thursday, May 14) before ISCOTT, the city's Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation that signs off on temporary street closures for special events.
But due to ongoing deliberations between the police and the Sisters over the proposed changes this year, the ISCOTT hearing is being postponed for two weeks. Should the city oppose the planned changes, the Sisters voted at a meeting Tuesday night to end their oversight of Pink Saturday.
"Pink Saturday is in limbo," said Sister Barbi Mitzvah, a spokesnun for the group who is spearheading planning this year's event. "The only way the Sisters will do it is if we can expand the footprint and sell alcohol, otherwise the Sisters will officially pull out of doing Pink Saturday."
Negotiations over the plan turned contentious this week after Mission Station Captain Steve Tacchini proposed reigning in drinking at the street party to designated beer gardens. Doing so would reduce how many officers would be required to work Pink Saturday, and therefore, cost the police department less in overtime.
But the Sisters ruled out such an idea, saying beer gardens would hurt revenues and defeat the purpose of bringing in alcohol vendors. They plan to hire up to 150 private security officers to man the event, lessening the burden on the police.
Instead of using volunteers, they plan to hire professional bartenders. And only people with a valid ID showing proof of age will be given a wristband allowing them to purchase drinks from the booths. There will also be a zero-tolerance policy at the gates, where security guards will confiscate any bottles, cans, and weapons.
Castro bar owners also questioned whether beer gardens would mean they could no longer serve drinks in cups that patrons could then take with them out on the streets. Technically, it is against state law for bars to serve drinks to go. But the rule has always been overlooked when it comes to Pink Saturday, one of the biggest nights of the year for bars in the Castro.
An emergency meeting with bar owners, the Sisters, police, and Supervisor Bevan Dufty was held Wednesday morning to discuss the changes planned for the event and to seek consensus among the stakeholders in order to move forward.
Tacchini said at the meeting that he was "not demanding but merely proposing beer gardens because it lessens the need of having our staff there." He said he "put it on the table purely for economical reasons."
Bar owners expressed their support for the Sisters having beer booths with the caveat that they could still sell drinks to go.
"We should be able to do what we have always done and help the Sisters do beer booths. The whole point to Pink Saturday is that everyone can walk around and drink on the streets like at the Folsom Street Fair," said Larry Metzger, an owner of the Mix bar who hosted the meeting.
Doug Murphy, one of the owners of Moby Dick and 440 Castro, echoed those same sentiments.
"Beer booths, I don't have an issue with that as long as the people can come to the bars and leave," he said.
Tim Eicher, a part owner of QBar on Castro Street, pledged in an interview that his business fully supports the Sisters' plans to revamp the party. He even said he would buy a beer himself from their booth.
"Do you know how many people are down there in the Castro that night? There are enough people to drink at every single bar and the Sisters' beer booth. I think we will all be okay," he said. "If that is what they need to get enough money for their event, I will help them set up. We love their party."
Having asked the bars to close early Halloween night 2007, Dufty said he wanted to ask for the owners' input before backing the Sisters' plan to sell beer on the streets.
"This is a major event for them. Knowing that this has been a difficult year for any business, I didn't want to exclude them from the decision-making process," said Dufty in an interview.
Following the meeting, Dufty insisted that, "We will make this all work and have a great Pride."
And the Sisters expressed more confidence that by having the support of bar owners they would receive the necessary sign off from city officials.
"We are feeling very confident," said Mitzvah.