It was announced this week that the annual Delaware Pride festivities scheduled for later this month have been postponed until next year.
In an Oct. 6 announcement, the board of directors of Delaware Pride said the event, slated to take place Oct. 19 at Battery Park in Delaware City, would not go on because of fundraising difficulties. Instead, the board is turning its attention to planning early for the 2014 celebration.
Board member Michael Tersigni told PGN that the agency saw a low turnout at community meetings and fundraising events, such as bowling and BINGO outings that raise money to stage the festival.
“Our main problem has been a lack of community support,” he said. “We’ve been planning things and the community just isn’t coming out to support us and help us raise money to put this event on. People don’t realize that this isn’t a free event; we have to pay for trash, police, entertainment, stages. If we had support and people there to help, I think this would have turned out differently.”
All sponsors and vendors who already contributed money are being reimbursed, Tersigni said.
After spending a decade in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Pride moved the event to New Castle for 2012. Tersigni said he does not think the change of location impacted the fundraising challenges.
“I don’t think moving it had any effect. We’re trying not to keep it centralized,” he said. “There are people in Rehoboth who don’t want to travel to New Castle, and people in New Castle who don’t want to travel to Rehoboth. So we want to make it accessible to everybody.”
The board expects to have a 2014 festival date decided by the end of this year.
The board said it is also considering staging the first-ever Delaware Pride Parade and other festival changes for next year.
Tersigni invited those interested in helping to plan for next year’s festival to attend a community meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 16 at Brandywine Town Center, 4050 Brandywine Parkway in Wilmington.
“We want people to show interest,” Tersigni said. “People have opinions on the festivals and they say it on Facebook but we need them to come to meetings, share ideas. Sit and talk with us and be more involved. We have five people on the board and would love to have more members. We want to hear what the community wants and work together to come up with a solution.”
For more information, visit www.delawarepride.org.