LGBT pride was on display throughout the city last weekend, most apparent in the packed crowd at Penn’s Landing Sunday for the annual Pride festival, which organizers believe to be the largest ever.
“It really was a perfect day,” said Philly Pride Presents executive director Franny Price. “It was everything you could expect from a Pride event. The whole day went off without a hitch.”
Philly Pride Presents senior advisor Chuck Volz said organizers sold 10,000 wristbands for the event, which drew 150 vendors.
Volz said the festival usually draws about 8,500 partygoers and 125 vendors.
“I started working on this in ’93, and Franny and I always laugh about how much it’s changed,” he said. “It was a lot smaller back then, and it was really hard to get things organized. It’s great to see how far it’s come for this to be our biggest and most successful festival ever.”
While the barrage of vendors offered ample community networking opportunities, the festival was also a time for entertainment, and Price said headliner Aisha Tyler and the many other performing acts were well-received by the crowd.
The day after the event, Price said she had 178 e-mails about the day’s festivities, all of which were positive.
“I was amazed that not one of them was negative. I just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “The next day, you’re usually on this high because things went so well and then you get an e-mail saying, ‘Fran, I had a wonderful time but … ’ — but all 178 of them were from people saying how happy they were with how things turned out.”
Also notable was the apparent lack of protesters, who have often tinged an otherwise celebratory day.
Volz said Pride’s success should be shared by the innumerable volunteers and the community at large. “So many people work on this. It’s like a wedding: You plan, plan, plan, work and worry, and then it’s over so quickly,” he said. “But it really is a community effort. We got a lot of positive feedback from the people at Penn’s Landing; given the number of people we have, it’s great that everyone remains respectful and there were no incidents.”
The camaraderie among community members was evident throughout the impromptu joint parade performance by the Liberty City Kings and the Philadelphians MC, which won both groups the award for Gayest in the Parade and the grand-prize Fruit Bowl award.
When the Kings’ sound system failed during their performance of “Raise Your Glass” in front of the judges’ stand, the nearby Philadelphians took over the sound and joined in the performance, marking a highlight of the parade, Price said.
The other parade winners include Woody’s and Voyeur for Best Bar, US Airways Inc. for Best Business, Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative for Best Nonprofit, Wells Fargo for Best Float, Philadelphia Family Pride for Best Vehicle, Tabu’s sports float for Best Female Impersonator, Otto’s Mini for Best Individual or Duet, Flaggots for Best Performance, Metropolitan Community Church of Philadelphia for Best Theme, Veterans for Peace for Best Public Statement, Philadelphia Freedom Band for Best Marching with Music, the William Way LGBT Community Center for Best Marching without Music, Cheer New York for Best Nonprofit outside of Philadelphia and The Attic Youth Center for Spectator Favorite.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].