SANTA FE PRIDE SEES MAJOR UPGRADES
With the goal of making the City Different a premier gay pride destination, Santa Fe’s Pride organizers this year have extended the festivities into a weekend-long celebration, along with other new additions and partnerships.
“We wanted to have more of a Pride season,” said Pride organizer Richard Brethour-Bell. “We want to make Santa Fe a destination for Pride. And when people travel for Pride, they usually travel for more than one day.”
The Santa Fe Pride Parade and subsequent festival previously were held on the Plaza or in the Railyard for a single day in June, with maybe a pre-fest reception the night before.
Now in September, there is a Friday parade, a Saturday festival and a reservation-only Sunday brunch with ticket sales that benefit an LGBT scholarship at Santa Fe Community College.
The events kicked off Thursday with a documentary screening at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
Based on requests from local college students to have the events when school was in session, Brethour-Bell said the organization is expecting hundreds more attendees and more volunteers to help out with the longer celebration. The city estimated about 3,000 people attended Pride last year.
Local institutions also are becoming more involved. The New Mexico History Museum created a small “Pride of the Southwest” exhibit showing off the history of the Santa Fe Pride celebration with photos and outfits worn by well-known Pride queens.
Paul Valdez, also known as Marie Antoinette Du Barry and Miss Santa Fe Gay Pride 2011, donated the handmade Greek goddess-inspired gown and title sash he wore during the 2016 parade.
A dress worn by local performer Lucille Furr is also on display. Museum EVENTS SPREAD ACROSS ENTIRE WEEKEND, RISE IN ATTENDANCE EXPECTED
director Andrew Wulf called the small exhibition a “first step to recognizing LGBT culture and history.” Also, for the first time, the historic Palace of the Governors will fly LGBT flags all weekend.
Randy Randall, director of TOURISM Santa Fe, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said a mostly local event now has the potential to reach an out-of-town audience.
As more cities begin recognizing Pride, more people nationwide will begin gaining interest in other areas’ weekend celebrations, he said. “I’m definitely in favor of events becoming stronger, longer and better,” said Randall.
The Lodge at Santa Fe on Saint Francis Drive has been offering discounted rooms on Friday and Saturday for people who said they were coming for Pride, according to the Santa Fe Pride Facebook page.
Ideas from other cities
To find ways to improve Santa Fe’s festival, Brethour-Bell traveled to several Pride celebrations across the country, including in Las Vegas, Nev.; El Paso, Texas; and Flagstaff, Ariz. “We wanted to see what was working for them that isn’t working for us,” he said.
Notes he brought back included the idea of spreading out events, which he also wanted to do so the organizers and volunteers could more easily manage and enjoy the festivities, and offering special VIP tickets that garner revenue and generate excitement among eventgoers.
This year’s VIP tickets, sold through local nightclub Skylight with both over- and under-21 options, gives purchasers access to a parade afterparty at Skylight, designated parking close to Saturday’s events, and a meet and greet with the weekend’s entertainment headliner, Latrice Royale, a fan favorite from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” also at the Skylight.
The Pride parade, which will still go around the Plaza, has undergone a parade route change. City officials requested that the parade start at Fort Marcy Park and end downtown, while going down Washington Avenue, similar to the foot traffic route for Zozobra. After it goes around the Plaza, it will go up Lincoln Avenue and end on Federal Place.
This is the first year the organization will have to pay the city’s parade fee, a cost of about $600 waived by the City Council in previous years. City spokesman Matt Ross said the mayor and eight councilors each have one waiver for a special event each calendar year and that all of them have already been used for 2017. BrethourBell thinks pushing the Pride events from June back to September probably cost Pride a waiver.
The festival that typically followed the parade will now be held the following day at the SFUAD campus, with food vendors, a beer garden and entertainment. Brethour-Bell said SFUAD was a more cost-effective choice and already had a permit for additions like a beer garden. He hopes that after the school’s closing next year, the city still allow use of the city-owned campus for Pride events.
Malcom Morgan, SFUAD’s campus life coordinator who is also Coco Caliente, Miss Santa Fe Pride, said he’s wanted to get students more involved with Pride for years. Several students will be event volunteers and will also ride in a parade float this weekend.
“It’s something they’ve been needing,” said Morgan of having a younger crowd to get involved. “I hope this year’s Pride, with incorporating the youth more, will show them (that importance).”
The young people are important to Santa Fe Pride’s future, said Brethour-Bell. This is his last year organizing the city’s Pride events before he moves to Madison, Wis., and he wants to leave on a high note and attract people who want to keep it going.
“That is the hope, to make it the most successful Pride,” he said. “To make it a destination for Pride ... and to help the Santa Fe elite see that this is worth continuing.”