Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Pride and joy of Wilton Manors
Community comes together for colorful, over-the-top street party
Wilton Drive became a river of humanity, standing shoulder to shoulder Saturday as the city celebrated the 19th annual Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Festival awash in rainbow flags, over-the-top floats and eye-popping spectacles.
First, the politicians rolled by, including U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who was accompanied by a full complement of deputies and volunteers handing out necklaces of metallic beads. Then came the South Florida Bears, the drag queens and the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida.
Frisbee discs, red hots, wrapped gum and hard candy were flung into cheering crowds who watched for more than an hour as the colorful tableau progressed north.
“Over the years, it gets better and better and bigger and bigger,” said Frank Noguez, 54, who missed just one year of the event because he had back surgery.
Noguez was bringing his boyfriend, Bob Reeves, 61, of Vero Beach, who was experiencing his first Wilton Manors pride event. “Here, there are no labels. I can walk around and hold his hand.”
The street party featured food stalls selling everything from arepas to falafel to seared meats. The smell
of cannabis wafted in the air, along with a beery scent. The blistering heat put a sheen of sweat on the crowd, but it didn’t deter some from dressing up in kilts, S&M accessories, and knee-high fuzzy rainbowcolored socks.
“You look fabulous,” Joe Campbell, 53, of Fort Lauderdale, told Kevin Smith, of Oakland Park, who was dressed in a teased, blond bouffant wig, false eyelashes and a tight dress that flared at the bottom.
“This is what Divine would look like if she were still alive,” Smith said.
Edward Barron, 47, of Wilton Manors, was wearing a topper with a model of a clipper ship and festooned with rainbow flags. He said it was inspired by the designs of Philip Treacy of London. He started coming to the city’s pride event when he moved here from Bakersfield, Calif.
With her eyes tearing up, Stacy Malher, 48, trained her cellphone on the float by The Pub Wilton Manors. Her 11-year-old daughter was taking part, dressed in orange, her part of the rainbow.
“I’m just so proud of her,” Mahler said, recalling how her daughter came out to her as gay at age 9. “She’s fearless. She really is.”
Gosue Diaz, 34, dressed in a rainbow cape, with rainbow false eyelashes and sparkles flecking his beard, reflected on why it was called “Pride Day.”
“It is the opposite of shame,” he said. “There are still kids who commit suicide. There are still LBGTQ who are in depression and feel like they can’t talk to people … But we have so much to celebrate.”