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Sandwiched between the Capitol and Tower Bridge, Capitol Mall was blocked off Saturday for the 26th annual Sacramento Pride Festival.

About 12,000 people filled Third through Seventh streets from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to celebrate the event and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. The event was kicked off with a parade from Southside Park to Capitol Mall. A ribbon-cutting ceremony included Mayor Kevin Johnson, Senator Darrell Steinberg and Speaker of the Assembly John Pérez.

"(The festival) is a celebration of equality for all people, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation," said Bonnie Osborn, Sacramento Pride's marketing committee chair.

Attendees wandered among two music stages, the Amtrak dance pavilion, a kids zone, food court, beer garden and almost 200 vendor booths. People, and a few dogs, donned colorful outfits and accessories.

"(This festival) is important to Sacramento because it shows others that perceptions of the gay community being made up of androgynous people and feminine men is wrong," Debra Boothe of Sacramento said. "We have children and families just like everybody else. We're just like everybody else."

Vendors included businesses and organizations such as Jackson Rancheria, Davis Musical Theatre Company, AAA, Grateful Dog and Barefoot Wine and Bubbly.

"There's a variety of vendors reaching out to people," Daniel Barbour of Davis said. "There's booths here for people's health, animal care, home repair. It shows a diversity and tolerance."

The Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center hosts the event as a fundraiser. The $10 admission went to support the center's programs and services.

"It's important that we're proud all year round," Osborn said. "It's important to support businesses in our own community, like the Gay and Lesbian Center. If the LGBT community doesn't support our organizations, then who will?"

Osborn attributed the attendance to marketing and a sunny Saturday.

"Sacramento's LGBT community is very central to Sacramento's community at large," Osborn said. "It's a vibrant, strong community and having that location on the doorstep of our state capitol was really symbolic of the strong role that the LGBT community plays in Sacramento and our state."

Photos:

1) The rainbow balloon arch at the festival.

2) A participant of the lip-syncing contest.

3) A canine attendee wearing a rainbow bandana.

4) A participant of the lip-syncing contest.

5) An attendee with a colorful mohawk.

6) A couple at the festival.

Agnus-Dei Farrant is an intern for The Sacramento Press.

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Conversation Express your views, debate, and be heard with those in your area closest to the issue.

Tony Sheppard

June 21, 2010 | 12:50 PM

As always, the thumbs up/down feature is a great outlet for some anonymous bigotry. Three articles about Sac Pride have elicited 15 ups and 14 downs without a single written comment (until this one).

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JoesacramentoDotCom

edited on June 21, 2010 | 1:02 PM

Tony, I am so with you about the thumbs up/.down feature. I have written Ben/Casey and told them it is BAD NEWS. It does not further discussion, it does not promote progress, it only pits people against one another. I implore Ben and Sac Press to get rid of this feature

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Geoff Samek

June 21, 2010 | 2:28 PM

What do you think about *only* having a thumbs up icon, thus embodying the statement, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?"

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Tony Sheppard

June 21, 2010 | 3:04 PM

I have mixed feelings about it. It seems clear that the thumbs are used differently at different times to either show reaction to the writing style or to the content - which is ambiguous and therefore of little value. I suppose a thumbs up would be like the "like" button on facebook, although people seem to want a "dislike" option. I just happen to have noticed that whenever there's anything about Pride or anything gay-centric, the thumbs down come out in force, without there being any constructive criticisms being made as there might be elsewhere - so it does seem to be an outlet for anonymous hate. After all, they seem to be articles about community events that fall within the scope of what Sac Press is trying to cover and it's not that they are poorly written (or at least no more so than the average piece).

I think contributors should be identifiable, with real names, and then you could have a feature wherein one can use the thumbs, but other users can also see who picked up and down. I've seen publicly viewable polls like that on other sites and one can see who hits "like" on facebook. The anonymous nature of commentary on this site just enables vitriolic pissing matches, primarily about local politics, with a group that seem to have insider interests and which then put at least some of the rest of us off. And bigotry, also, is easier when it's anonymous.

There are certainly other instances where the thumbs come out in force, but it seems as if they are less targeted towards a specific topic, with the exception of the ghost-talker posts, and more a reflection of other attributes (for example, some writers who use the site more like a blog - with the responses perhaps being more of a knee-jerk response to the author than to the topic, as the topics vary).

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Tony Sheppard

edited on June 21, 2010 | 3:05 PM

In short, I think the anonymity is more the problem than the feature itself.

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Casey Kirk

June 22, 2010 | 11:21 AM

What would you guys think about being required to leave a comment along with your thumbs up or down that requires an explanation? Sometimes it might be that a user didn't like the subject matter or the way the story was written itself, or perhaps it was an accident that they even clicked it at all.

Thanks for the great feedback from all of you!

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Dale Kooyman

June 21, 2010 | 4:53 PM

I vote to keep the thumbs up and thumbs down feature, Geoff. It is such a minor issue when compared to the great and varied dialogue that sacpress offers.

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thsas

June 21, 2010 | 6:12 PM

That would be a thumbs up?

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William Burg

June 21, 2010 | 6:37 PM

I agree with Dale--it is easier to just hit "thumbs up/thumbs down" to support/disagree if I don't think an article needs a detailed response. Besides, figure that a "thumbs down", while a tad disheartening, is probably less upsetting than an abusive and inappropriate comment. To that extent, it provides a safety valve for negative comments.

It's nice to see more public events taking advantage of our big public spaces like Capitol Mall--it would be nice to see more things like this on the K Street mall too, and adjacent businesses might enjoy the extra traffic too!

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Agnus-Dei Farrant

June 21, 2010 | 6:48 PM

Thanks for the comment, William! In reference to the events at Capitol Mall, Bonnie Osborn said that the city was very receptive to the festival as they hope to hold more events there. She estimated the festival may have brought hundreds of thousands of dollars to downtown businesses.

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LisaB23

June 21, 2010 | 6:45 PM

i agree with Dale and William - the thumbs up/ down is probably a safe outlet for mean people. & I would love to see more events like this on Capitol Mall and K Street Mall.

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Tony Sheppard

June 21, 2010 | 10:58 PM

BTW - I didn't start this as a pitch to get rid of the feature - I was just noticing how anything with gay content draws the divided responses. It was an observation, not a call to action.

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Cameron Marsh