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RSS icon Comments on Letter of the Day: Gay for Pay

1

Hey Dan,

Being that the text is in a white box it isn't clear if those are your thoughts, or someone else's. Either way it's a damned good idea.

Posted by elswinger | May 3, 2007 7:52 AM
2

How about I am poor. I might be able to save up a few bucks to go to the bars which charge extra cover, but if it costs money to go the damn festival, I won't get to be there. All the other festivals are free.

Posted by Tiz | May 3, 2007 8:03 AM
3

Uh,

Everything is fucking expensive here. It's nice to have an event that doesn't cost $$$.

Posted by Mr. Poe | May 3, 2007 8:09 AM
4

But then the capitalists would win...

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | May 3, 2007 8:11 AM
5

Is Folklife charging admission this year? I hope so. Last year was the first one I skipped in ages - too too crowded.

Posted by bonehead's girlfriend | May 3, 2007 8:21 AM
6

Oh, please: I knew it would be just a matter of a few minutes before the "I'm poor" BS would start.

Look, we could have a neat festival with, say, a $20 charge at the Seattle Center: a place that is geared towards events (i.e. plenty of manicured open space, perfomance stages, and bathrooms) OR we could do the SAME OLD THING (i.e. go to several lame "beer garden" parties where we stand outside on a fenced-off street, drinking warm beer and waiting for the porta-potties. If you're at the Cuff, you can listen to a series of ancient disco queens warble their one hit.

Just one of these bar parties costs $10-12 bucks. Go to a few of them, and you're already spending more money than the $20 party.

But - and here's where the tired old "community" arguement comes in - we would be depriving the bar owners (who are refered to in "community-speak" as "local businesses" of their annual cash cow.

I'm not being anti-bar here: I worked at the Cuff for seven years, and I know that's a big deal for them, and they pull out all the stops for a nice party. But when we could so something really cool, in the center of the city, why get hung up on faux "community" and illogical expense arguements.

The bars could still have their part: A big party-after-the-party with celeberity DJ's could still pack 'em in and make them a nice profit. Or - radical thought here - they could join together for some sort of community pub crawl with one cover charge for the evening of pride.

This would, of course, take professional event planners and - horrors - corporate sponsorship, but why not? LA and SFO do it, and do it well. Let's stop being a Jan Brady city.

Posted by catalina vel-duray | May 3, 2007 8:29 AM
7

@2: A lot of successful festivals charge a gate.

Posted by Dave Coffman | May 3, 2007 8:29 AM
8

I don't think its unreasonable to charge $5 admission, or maybe $5 pre-sale tickets, and $10 at "the door"? The parade is free, and going drinking at the clubs afterward could be free, as long as you have a "Pride Pass" or something. I mean, clubs charge covers all the time, so what the hell? You could even have VIP passes for $100 for people to skip through the lines to get in, and a special airconditioned VIP tent. Its a good way to raise to cash.

Posted by Monique | May 3, 2007 8:30 AM
9

#2 Bumbershoot is not free, the last time I went it was $8 a day and now I think it's $35. The other Festivals at the Seattle Center may have free admission, but they charge rent for all the food and trinket kiosks and all the same union dues and such that put last years parade in a financial hole.

Do the organizers of Seattle Pride charge application fees for the floats, bands, and wlakers? SF Pride charges for participation fees for everything but standing on the street.

Posted by elswinger | May 3, 2007 8:32 AM
10

Like you said almost every big city charges. Long Beach, CA, San Diego and LA, just to name a few, charge around $20 and their events are like one big huge beer garden with booths and various entertainment stages. No one even flinches at paying it is just part of the Pride Day routine. In fact, there is often a huge lineup to pay after the parade. Quite impressive that so many people are willing to pay. Please press this issue since I would rather pay at least $5 to $10 and have a really great Pride at Seattle Center with a more open beer garden then nothing at all. Volunteer Park will never allow alcohol like the rest of the country does during Pride. Charging to go to a Friday or Saturday night dance party in one of the convention halls like last year is not the same. Unfortunately, people in Seattle compare Pride to Solstice or Folk Life. They need to look at almost every other city and get a clue. You should model it more like Bumpershoot.
However, one problem I heard is that Seattle Center charges a lot more if an event charges an admission so most of that fee gets eaten up in extra rental.

Posted by touring | May 3, 2007 8:46 AM
11

every gay pride i've ever been to has had a fee to get into the post-parade activities. of course, i've always just snuck in cos im punk rock like that. but really what is the problem. if you are too cheap to pay, then volunteer four a couple of hours and get in free.

Posted by something else | May 3, 2007 8:54 AM
12

What Catalina said!

*********
And I know the past is past, but if SOaP would have looked at their estimate on costs from Seattle Center last year and acted like adults, they would have put in place a modest entry charge and we wouldn't be wasting time this year unwinding our panties from the twist in our ass!

Posted by yes | May 3, 2007 8:57 AM
13

How about donations too? If 1/2 of the people donated $1 we'd get last year's bill paid off in no time. I think there should be a small fee for a festival. Even a $5 fee would help pay the bills and get the event profitable. I don't think it needs to be an outrageous fee like they are now charging for Bumpershoot, that makes no sense. But $5 seems reasonable.

Posted by Suz | May 3, 2007 8:59 AM
14

Setting up Seattle Center to charge costs as much as it does to produce the whole Pride Festival to start with - thousands of feet of rented fence, ticket gates, ticket takers, accountants, security, etc. It seems like a good answer, but it's not so simple. A $20 ticket would also draw only a small fraction of the people who come when it's free. The LA market can sustain a much higher ticket price for events than Seattle. Even Bumbershoot tickets are only around $18 if bought in advance.

Folklife is free, but gets hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from the City of Seattle to pay for Seattle Center costs, and tens of thousands in donations from the community. Other festivals that happen there are put on by the Center, Seafair gets subsidies in the form of police, etc. For Pride to work at the Center it needs to be subsidized bigtime by the community and the City-State or County. Our local governments spent over $100 million on McCaw Hall, hundreds of thousands on Folklife, hundreds of millions on professional for profit sports. Seattle Pride could be as big as Folklife and bring tons of new money into the local economy. It should happen at Seattle Center, and the LGBT community leaders in the City Council and State governments should pony up some support.

The LGBT community spends more money in a month at nightclubs than it does in 10 years putting on a community festival that everyone wants to have an opinion about. If you really want Pride to be great, donate at www.seattlepride.org. Make the downtown parade as good as it can be this year, and next year I bet you'll see the festival return to the Center (unless he LGBT Center and SGN can kill that in order to take it all to the Hill and get more money for themselves and their bar supporters). Get involved with good floats, join the volunteer board. Speak with your actions, your feet and your wallets. That's how it works. Many props to Savage for stepping up this year. The community needs more people like him and the current SOaP board.

Posted by tbf | May 3, 2007 9:06 AM
15

I'm not kidding about being poor. I won't be going to the Cuff. I'll be drinking from a flask while watching the parade. If I already have to pay money to eat and maybe have a crappy beer at the Center, then I literally can't afford to get in.

Minneapolis has a bigger pride than Seattle, but is in the same range for city size and population (neither compare to Chi, NY, or SF). It doesn't charge, and manages to be hugely successful. I can walk around the park there, not spend any money because I don't have any, and still have fun, drinking from my flask.

Posted by Tiz | May 3, 2007 9:32 AM
16

Go figure that just days after people cried 'Do what you can to help save the Pride parade!' people are now going, 'Oh I can't pay anthing to get in! I'm too poor!'

Given the expected turnout and the cost of the space to run the rally, this is the best way to offset the costs and pay off the debts.

Posted by Gomez | May 3, 2007 9:43 AM
17

Tiz @15:
I'll give you $5 to shut up.

Posted by Sean | May 3, 2007 9:53 AM
18

Oi, Seattle!

I now live in London and it costs £20 to go to Pride, which is like 100s of american dollars. so for a few bucks, count yourself lucky!

plus with all that $$, you could enjoy/torture yourself by hiring some ex-Spice Girls to perform. Imagine.

Posted by Ballardgirl | May 3, 2007 9:56 AM
19

You don't have to rent the whole Seattle Center (ala Bumbershoot or Folklife) to have a pride festival at Seattle Center. You can rent chunks of it (like the Mural Ampitheatre and the fountain, or Memorial Stadium, if you will) in that case, the cost of rental goes down significantly.

Posted by catalina vel-duray | May 3, 2007 10:02 AM
20

@17: It's a deal.

Posted by Tiz | May 3, 2007 10:04 AM
21

Why do some of you think other people should work to produce events you can go to for free? Save the money you would spend filling your flask.
I used to have this "discussion" with folk when I was a bartender. They would bitch about paying for water. They seemed to think the bar I worked in was their clubhouse and everything should be free. I would tell them...There is music being played by someone, there is someone at the door, I was behind the bar (yes we got paid for working at the bar. I suppose we are evil for expecting to be paid to work), the lights were on, the glass the water is served in had to be bought, the ice machine did not ooperate for free, someone was going to pick up the glass when empty and wash it (at least in the bar I worked in) and the city charged the bar for the water. Lots of us don't do things when we can not afford them. You choosing to fill your flask (I assume you pay for whatever you fill your flask with but perhaps I am wrong and you simply steal it) does not mean anyone else should fill in the gaps in your life for you.

Posted by jamesb | May 3, 2007 10:10 AM
22

You don't have to charge Bumbershoot prices because you aren't having lots of bands playing all over the place at the same time. Figure out ahead of time what it's going to cost to put on your shindig, try to get some corporate sponsorship and donations, then charge a modest fee to break even.

And have Dan perform a giant marriage ceremony like the Moonies do. It might not be legal, but it would probably be symbolic and they'll show you on FOX and maybe the Daily Show.

Posted by elswinger | May 3, 2007 10:17 AM
23

I love the symbolic mass wedding idea almost as much as I love the notion of a "Jan Brady city".

Posted by Fnarf | May 3, 2007 11:49 AM
24

my 2 cents...

HEADLINERS

If I am going to pay ANYTHING to enter The Center... I can go for free any day I want cuz I live here in the PNW... then it needs to have real, tangible value. I’m not the only person who wants something in return for their money.

Think on it... outside of The Young, Free, and Singles set, there really isn't much of tangible value to paying to enter the festival. To me, the festival is the nice side (for an afternoon) of a gay bar. I am not sorry to say it, it’s a matter of fact. BIG HOWEVER: the culture being put out for all to see is priceless. Pride is a cultural event; it’s a scene, baby. Like the Folk and Alternative music scenes, the gay scene will need to come to terms with the capitalism of society... people with give you money if you give them something in return.

I'm tell'in ya, The Festival After Pride or whatever, could be a first rate entertainment festival... INTERNATIONAL even. The free parade in the morning, then go on down to The Center for THE BIG GAY SHINDIG. I think the price of admission would be great, in addition to the elephant ears and beer garden, if festival included a scene from a play showing around town, or a recital or two from symphony or choral groups (see where I am going with the “showtunes in the afternoon” angle?), but maybe also see some top notch artwork (not that the vendors outside aren’t talented or anything, but seeing art hung on an air conditioned wall seems a bit more, oo’ la la special). I am sure there are also a rock musician or two I could get myself excited to see later on in the evening (its not like I am too old to enjoy the bar scene/beer garden, but the 20’sum’thins get rowdy when the sun goes down).

People don’t drive into the city to go to Bumbershoot or Folk Life because they want to go up in The Needle’s elevator, they come because they are going to see musicians they MIGHT pay to go see, musicians and groups they HAVE heard of, and they come because of the vendors and the other things to do (like listen to musicians the HAVEN’T ever heard of).

But, that sort of festival just doesn’t come together overnight, even if every entertainer will donate their performance, not expect lunch, gas, or smokes money. But if money has to be had… one word… HEADLINER.

Posted by Phenics | May 3, 2007 11:56 AM
25

Hey Dan. Albuquerque asks for a "donation" at the festival, and that seems to work. Phoenix charges $15 for a single day, and $25 for two. I am totally baffled that Seattle doesn't charge. Personally, I'd rather pay to go to the festival rather than have no festival at all. I mean, who could live without En Vogue, Tiffany and seeing all your exes in one place?

Posted by Keith Alexander | May 3, 2007 11:59 AM
26

A thought from a non-Seattleite - would some form of entry donation work? At the Folsom St. fair (in S.F.) there are volunteers at the entrances collecting what was I think $5 per person last year. If you do pay it, you get a sticker that gives you a discount at the beer stands and lots of merchants. If you don't pay it, you get in, just no sticker (and presumably if you weren't up for donating you're not buying beer anyway). Since it's voluntary, the fencing is just moveable barriers, not very secure, but it still channels most people to the intended entrances. Some people (I don't know what percentage) also donate over the amount, since it's convenient to do it then and there.

Posted by vespertine | May 3, 2007 12:09 PM
27

What better way to say gays have arrived then to stop begging for support, and instead treat attendance at Pride as the privilege it is? Something worth paying for.

But just because it works in other cities doesn't mean it will work in Seattle. Seattle is different. Just ask anybody who was born here. Why do people keep forgetting? I can hardly go one day without being reminded by some native-born Seattle prick.

Posted by elenchos | May 3, 2007 12:10 PM
28

vespertine: San Francisco is a real city. New York is a real city. London is a real city.

Seattle is Minneapolis with more rain and less charm. Sorry to insult any Minnesotans out there...

Posted by Goober | May 3, 2007 1:00 PM
29

Catalina @6,
Are you disrespecting Jan Brady??? I'm going to sick Alice the Maid on you!

Posted by The J | May 3, 2007 4:19 PM
30

"Seattle is Minneapolis with more rain and less charm."

Minneapolis? Charming? Where are they hiding it?

St Paul - yeah, that's charming. But Minneapolis is a great big bunch of nothing. A bigger Des Moines. The only place I've ever been where you can get away with wearing a t-shirt that says "Save a walleye - spear an indian"

Neat.

Posted by Cindy Brady City | May 3, 2007 8:30 PM
31

You know a great way that SOAP could raise additional money? If you all stopped debating about how they could raise additional money and instead went to their website (www.seattlpride.org) and donated now. If everyone with an opinion would put their money where their mouth is this wouldn't be a problem at all.

Posted by Chris J | May 3, 2007 11:51 PM
32

Damn my poor spelling:
www.seattlepride.org

Posted by Chris J | May 3, 2007 11:52 PM
33

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