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RSS icon Comments on Can the Pride Parade Go on Without a Rally Site?

1

NO! We have to have a "rally" so that the "community can gather" and visit the remarkably boring organizational booths.

OTOH, If, say, an organization with a lot of connections to businesses wanted to rent an event space at the Center and have a party that same day, it would be really cool, don't you think?

Posted by A Tireless Advocate for the Community | April 24, 2007 12:04 PM
2

The Chicago pride parade ends without a rally site. (Unless you call the crazy homophobic god-fearing groups who hang out at the end of the parade a rally.) Instead, the parade just ends and everyone schleps back to Halsted for the post-parade festivities.

Posted by mary-kate | April 24, 2007 12:05 PM
3

But, without a rally, won’t we deprive all the angry communist dykes of their annual soap box from which to berate us for not having eaten the rich yet?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | April 24, 2007 12:10 PM
4

What about all the speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches and speeches?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | April 24, 2007 12:12 PM
5

Too bad revenue from vendor booths at the rally is required to fund the parade, etc.

Posted by Sober News | April 24, 2007 12:15 PM
6

They have speeches?

All I ever remember are the booths.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 24, 2007 12:18 PM
7

uh you forgot....mark 'mom' finley and aleksa manila have bills to pay...without hosting gigs, DRAG QUEENS MIGHT GO HUNGRY!!!

Posted by michael strangeways | April 24, 2007 12:20 PM
8

Parade downtown and then a Cap Hill Block Party... then everyone is happy.

Posted by monkey | April 24, 2007 12:21 PM
9

Bingo! My first reaction was to SOAP and the tired old queens who ran it- thanks for years of drama, being a community laughingstock, and fucking up what was the first and only decent parade we had last year. Second reaction- it can still be held downtown, and people can saunter on up the hill in 10 minutes for their boozing and cruising. It placates the downtown AND cap hill crowd. Oh how I'll miss the masses at the International Fountain. *sigh*

Posted by R. Reger | April 24, 2007 12:22 PM
10

Slight variation: Parade, ending in informal hang-out at Seattle Center. Night time festivities on the Hill. You can go to some or all.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | April 24, 2007 12:28 PM
11

Hmmm, wasn't last year's poorly-attended Volunteer Park event an "unofficial rally" as well?

That being said, an unofficial rally at Seattle Center has the potential to be more interesting... if there was just some way to sneak in a sound system. Maybe we can win that Simian Mobile Disco prize and create a FLASH MOB PARTY like Michael Alig and those club kids used to do in NYC.

Posted by Explorer | April 24, 2007 12:32 PM
12

@9 Most of the people who were on the Board last year were new and inherited many of the problems passed down from years of mismanagement. I also really take offense to the 'tired old queen' comment. That's so easy and so predictable. Do you personally know any of the Board members (who volunteer so you can have a fucking event to go to every year?). How can you say 'community laughing stock' and 'first and only decent parade' in the same breath?

Posted by Disappointed | April 24, 2007 12:34 PM
13

Why don't they just flip the route and run it on 2nd, instead of 4th and then have it go up Pike or Pine?

That way the parade stays downtown and commences on the hill.....

EVERYBODY WINS!

Posted by Raygunblst | April 24, 2007 12:36 PM
14

Since this is the second gayest city in the country why doesn't every gay/straight person who wants to keep the Gay Pride Parade in Seattle send a $10 donation to Seattle Out and Proud. That way you can have the festival and pay off the debt.

BTW, I liked the suggestion this morning that the event end in Cal Anderson park. Lots of pubs and good coffee around there.

Posted by Blah Blah | April 24, 2007 12:36 PM
15

Drag queens in heels trudging uphill on Pike or Pine is a site that would be HIGH-LARIOUS...

Posted by Gay Uphill Climb | April 24, 2007 12:39 PM
16

God, the Rally is dull and boring and the parade was only interesting last year since it was downtown. Other than that it was the same parade as 2005 and 2004 and 2003 and 2002 and 2001 and (wait I think 2000 had one different float) and 1999......

Posted by Just Me | April 24, 2007 12:43 PM
17

@16 -- kind of a challenge to get some new, better stuff going on for the new audience and new venue, though, hunh?

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | April 24, 2007 1:11 PM
18

There's been a parade before?

Posted by Boomer in NYC | April 24, 2007 1:14 PM
19

You can't run the parade up Pike or Pine -- there aren't enough streets going up and down the hill to close off either of those bottle necks. Police, fire, bus won't sign off on closures for those streets.

Posted by Dan Savage | April 24, 2007 1:30 PM
20

@12...No need to get testy- I am just sharing the thoughts and amazement that many, many folks have- the angst and bickering surrounding the parade goes back years and is well documented- including god knows how many write-ups in the Stranger...

I don't recall any other local event that has the dramatics aired out in public like this one does...thus the "laughingstock" remark. As for "tired old queens", i've been called a lot worse things in life and you just have to buck up and let it roll...

Posted by R. Reger | April 24, 2007 1:30 PM
21

Alot of people have wonderful ideas about making the Parade and Rally happen, but those wonderful people won't get off their firm muscled butts and help. Of course that's normal for any organization; Gay, str8, and inbetween. And lest you know-it-alls forget it, the Board is made up of volunteers. YOU never stepped up to the plate and did a damn thing. So quit your hollow bitching and help out the poor saps that are gunna pull what ever happens this summer together. They'll need your help much more than they'll need you lofty ideas.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn | April 24, 2007 1:32 PM
22

@19 - who cares what the police or fire want?

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 24, 2007 1:33 PM
23

true 21, the brainstorming session is over really. The reality is that SOAP has folded and the name "Seattle Pride" is trademarked by them. LGBT Center will continue with Queerfest on Saturday and another group I have never heard of said in a blog yesterday that they have been secretly planning a "Plan B" pride should SOAP fold and the made they their intentions known; a parade down Broadway and some sort of soemthing at Volunteer Park, something that is I am guessing is supported by the SGN and The LGBT Community Center. Unless they change their plans, which I highly doubt, somebody else would need to come forward in opposition to them and do a second parade downtown - and then the drama begins all over again.

Posted by que sera sera | April 24, 2007 1:50 PM
24

"who cares what the police or fire want?"

Well, you'd probably care very much, if your place were to catch fire, or someone took a poke at you, or you had a heart attack. Don't be a dumbass.

Posted by Doofus | April 24, 2007 1:53 PM
25

The Torchlight Parade starts at Seattle Center and heads toward Qwest Field and ends at its northern parking lot. I don't think there is anything at its end that could be called festive.

Posted by Bauhaus | April 24, 2007 2:36 PM
26

In NYC, the rally is a full week before the parade.

Oh, and no one goes to the rally.

Posted by Matt | April 26, 2007 1:36 PM

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