Lez Keep It Real

With Pride season upon us, I thought I’d lighten things up a bit from the previous posts and give you all some exciting places to visit to celebrate GLBT Pride.

I’m not really a Pride person myself. I enjoy a festival as much as the next person, but I’ve been to enough Pride celebrations to appreciate the experience for what it is. I feel as though I celebrate myself each and every day of my life. Plus, some Pride events can get a little out of hand with the Out & Proud vs. Out & Loud factor. For more on that, read Adri’s view of the matter.

Back to Pride. My first Pride experience was when I was living in Boston and if there is any Pride parade you should attend at least once in your life, it’s the Boston Pride parade. It was amazing and for a Pride virgin, it literally took my breath away. I’ve also attended Toronto Pride and Buffalo Pride. I give my home city props for organizing the event on such a small scale because for what it is, the Pride committee here in the B-lo puts together a pretty good show.

Big city Pride festivals differ from small city Pride festivals immensely. Though you often here about the widely fun and crazy celebrations happening on the east coast, the west coast and in Canada, here are a few worthwhile rural (yes, I said rural) Pride festivals worth attending according to PlanetOut.com:

Fed up with the same old gargantuan, slick big-city Prides? Want a bit more character in your out-and-proud shenanigans this year? Make a date with a Pride festival off the beaten track and see how this crop of fresh-faced small towns and cities in the middle of predominantly rural areas proudly put rainbows on their calendars.

Fargo-Moorhead Pride, North Dakota
June 1-3, 2007
www.pridecollective.com
Rainbow-hued rollerskating gets Fargo’s Pride activities under way May 29. A host of enticing activities career along in its wake, from coffee shop hops and bowling to drag shows, dancing, a beer bust and a rally. Weekend highlights in the city known as “The Gateway to the West” include volleyball and softball at Lindenwood Park’s Pride Park and a Fierce Drag Show.

Bisbee Gay Pride 2007, Bisbee, Arizona
June 15-17, 2007
www.bisbeepride.com
The West is getting wilder in tiny Bisbee (population 6,000), a former copper-mining town at the foot of the picturesque Mule Mountains. Once known as “the Queen of the Copper Camps,” Bisbee’s queens and kings camp it up during a drag race and bull run in Brewery Gulch, square dancing, a turn-of-the-century ball, and other such high-spirited goings-on during this southern Arizona mountain town’s jaunty annual Pride celebrations.

Montana Pride Celebration 2007, Montana
June 15-17, 2007
www.prideinbillings.org
“Magic City” sits in south central Montana, close to Yellowstone National Park. The biggest city in a 500-mile radius serves as a focal point for gay folks from Montana and Wyoming. Eric Himan and BETTY will be on hand to help mark this year’s theme, “From Silence to Celebration,” and tattoo artists will be among the vendors at the festival — if you want to make it an event you’ll really never forget.

Pride in the Park 2007, Fort Collins, Colorado
June 16, 2007
www.prideinthepark.org
Billing it as a “hometown Pride,” College town Fort Collins celebrates its fourth Pride in 2007. Civic Center Park is the site for an expected 1,000 people to enjoy a sunny northern Colorado day’s entertainment, kids’ games, more than 40 vendors and craftspeople, a beer garden, silent auction and tempting door prizes.

Rendezvous 2007, Medicine Bow, Wyoming
Aug. 1-5, 2007
www.wyomingequality.org
This one is as rural as it gets. Camp out under the stars for five days in the Medicine Bow National Forest, between Laramie and Cheyenne. Wyoming’s Rendezvous 2007 offers five days of good old-fashioned LGBT fun. Kicking off with a pot-luck dinner, the rest of the week is crammed full of activities, contests, workshops and entertainment, including the intriguing-sounding Fractured Faerie Tale.

For all you granola-eating, crunchy lesbians out there, start marking your calendars for these Pride events today!

Comment Question: What’s the best Pride you’ve ever been to?

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