Seattle PrideFest is Best Gay Event of 2009: It almost doesn’t seem fair, with so many volunteers and resources going into pulling off Seattle’s PrideFest. But as 2006 can attest to, there’s no guarantee of success.
Much of the success can be attributed to the professionalism of veteran promoter Egan Orion. Sort of jack of all trades and tech guru, Egan’s events are organized to the smallest detail with lead coordinators walking the Center grounds in headsets. He took over the helm in 2007, the previous year the event had lost nearly $100k with unexpected high venue and labor costs. That was a huge risk in itself.
Each year the event has grown with more stages, more DJs, more entertainment, more booths and more beer. But since the very first year the main attraction has been the iconic International Fountain and the PrideFest dance party has shaped itself around one of the Center’s most important features.
Were there minor issues this year? Sure. The special VIP section at PrideFest was so popular that the Center had to stop letting people in, including some that had just arrived to the festival and prepaid in advance. Eventually everyone was allowed in but looking back just a couple of years who would have thought that this event would be the success that it is today.
Another exciting component is the amount of younger participants at Seattle PrideFest that are shut out of participating in bar events. Seattle Center’s Vera Project held a special youth Pride Party that spilled out into the International Fountain. This was a rare opportunity for the young, the old and even entire families to participate as one community, for one day that I wish would last forever.
For more information about Seattle PrideFest 2010 on June 27, visit www.seattlepridefest.com.
