Sacramento Pride 2010: California's Capital Pride

Sacramento Pride Grows Up to Role as California's Capital Pride!

2010-06-18T07:46:57Z

With an iconic new location--Sacramento's scenic Capitol Mall, expanded marketing efforts and a growing roster of prestigious corporate sponsors and exhibitors, the 26-year-old Sacramento Pride Festival is expected to break attendance records on Saturday.

The June 19 Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., attracting an estimated 10,000 visitors and bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of economic benefit to Sacramento’s downtown area. Festival admission is $10.

After a number of years at South Side Park, the Festival will move to Capitol Mall in 2010, where a street-festival layout sandwiched between the Tower Bridge and the State Capitol dome is expected to add novelty and cachet to “California’s Capital Pride.” Adding to the buzz are headline entertainers from New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, a new high-energy Amtrak Dance Pavilion featuring popular regional DJs, and give-aways including $50 in free play at Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel, California State Fair and Village People concert tickets, music downloads from Masterbeat and more.

Featured on two live stages will be “Ru-Paul’s Drag Race” winner Bebe Zahara Benet, singer-songwriter and LOGO Channel star Joel Evan; musical comedy duo That’s What She Said (TWSS); and Kaylah Marin, whose dance remix single “On the Floor (Oh Baby Please)” hit #4 on the Billboard Club Play Charts. Local favorites include songstress Gwen McMillin, folk singer Joshua Macrae, and punk-soul-hip hop band RCWB (Rendezvous w/Cool Beans). A complete entertainment schedule is attached.

The Sacramento Pride Festival will kick off with a Pride Parade at 10 a.m., featuring State Assembly Speaker John Pérez as Grand Marshall. The parade will begin at the intersection of 7th and T streets and proceed on 7th Street to the Festival entrance at 7th Street and Capitol Mall.

An Opening Ceremony and ribbon-cutting will follow the parade at 11 a.m. on the Festival 4th Street Stage, featuring Assembly Speaker Pérez, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and other dignitaries.

Sacramento Pride would not be possible without the support of its generous corporate sponsors, including Title Sponsor Jackson Rancheria Casino & Hotel, Wells Fargo, Outword Magazine, Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, HP, Rainbow Pages, Regional Transit, Faces Nightclub, Barefoot Wine, Bud Light, JetBlue, WriteAway Communications Services, Infinite Entertainment, Uptown Studios, SMUD, Amtrak, CARES, Cheer SF, California State Fair, Power of Two Promotions, Lumens Light + Living, Safeway, IKEA, Sacramento News & Review, Curve Magazine and SF Weekly.

Sacramento Pride is produced by the volunteers and staff of the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center and proceeds support Center programs and services, including youth services, adult discussion groups, HIV support services, transgender support services, a free weekly legal clinic, gathering space for local community organizations and more. For more information about Sacramento Pride, visit www.sacramentopride.org.

$10 Buys Big Value at Sacramento Pride

2010-06-06T23:01:29Z

Let’s face it—a sawbuck just doesn’t go very far these days. But thanks to generous corporate sponsorships and a year's worth of robust volunteer effort to build the event, Sacramento Pride is shaping up to be the best value of the region's summer festival season!

Sacramento Pride Festival, Saturday, June 19, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will be held at Sacramento’s scenic Capitol Mall for the first time this year. To go along with its exciting new location, Pride's volunteer organizers are bringing in new attractions, star-power entertainment, and excellent swag--all for the price of a $10 admission ticket.

Here is a list of the top 10 added values for guests attending Sacramento Pride:

1) $50 Casino Bucks from Sacramento Pride Title Sponsor Jackson Rancheria Casino and Hotel
Don’t throw that Pride Festival ticket away! Printed on the reverse side is your coupon for $50 in free casino play at Jackson Rancheria. (Offer only applies to new customers, who are not currently members of Jackson’s Dreamcatcher Club®. However, Jackson Rancheria has been so touched by the support of the LGBTQI community that EXISTING club members may submit their tickets for $25 in free Casino Bucks!)

2) 10 Free Music Downloads from Masterbeat
Look for volunteers wearing Masterbeat T-shirts at our new high-energy Amtrak Dance Pavilion. They’ll be handing out Masterbeat cards good for 10 free music downloads at https://www.masterbeat.com to the first 1,500 visitors!

3) Free California State Fair and Village People Concert Tickets
Hightail it over to the Amtrak Dance Pavilion anytime you hear the DJ spin a Village People tune. Pride Sponsor California State Fair staff will be handing out free passes to the Fair and to The Village People (Y-M-C-A!), in concert at Cal Expo Tuesday, July 27.

4) FREE Logo Goodie Bags to the First 5,000 Guests
Collect your reusable, souvenir Pride Goodie Bag at the gate, and use it to collect your SWAG from our fabulous array of Festival sponsors and exhibitors.

5) Star Entertainment Line-up at 2 Live Stages
“Ru-Paul’s Drag Race” winner Bebe Zahara Benet. Musical comedy duo That’s What She Said (U-Haul: The Music Video). LOGO Channel star singer-songwriter Joel Evan. Billboard Club Dance Chart recording artist Kaylah Marin. Dreamy sister duo Karmina. Cast members from Steve Silver’s “Beach Blanket Babylon.” And lots of local favorites, including Cheer SF, Sacramento Sirens Cheer Elite, Cheer Sacramento, and Folsom Cheer Elite; vocalist/activist Cooper Rae; singer-songwriter Gwen McMillin; folk singer Joshua Macrae; A Church For All Gospel Choir; Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus; Downtown Diva Danielle; Taryn Thru U; Rusty Nails… we could just go on and on. Check out the official Sacramento Pride Program in the June 10 issue of Outword Magazine for a complete entertainment listing, or visit http://sacramentopride.org.

6) Amtrak Dance Pavilion
You asked for more fun, more excitement, more chance to dance the day away! We heard you! Sacramento Pride Sponsors Amtrak and Infinite Entertainment, along with One DJ Nation, will provide you with a diverse mix of high-energy dance music all day long. Our line-up of guest DJs includes DJ Gabriel, DJ Lurid, DJ Clay and Sacramento’s own Jammin’ Jo.

7) Kidzone and Carnival
Bounce houses! Face painting! Arts, crafts, games and family-friendly fun! Staffed as usual by the wonderful folks at Sierra Forever Families.

8) Entertainer Meet-&-Greets and Merchandise Signing Opportunities
Several of our performers will be on hand after their stage performances to mix and mingle with our Pride guests. Have your picture taken with Bebe or Joel. Or purchase a TWSS CD or Pride T-shirt to have the girls sign! Celebrity signing areas will be announced from the 4th Street and 6th Street Stages.

9) Skip the Lines!
For the first time this year, you can purchase your Sacramento Pride Festival admission tickets and drink tickets online. Just go to http://sacramentopride.org and click on the Store link. Buy four tickets online, and you will receive a free 24 x 36-inch collectible poster, mailed to you with your tix in a tube.

10) The Priceless Opportunity to Make a Difference in Your Community
Sacramento Pride is produced by the staff and volunteers of the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, and your $10 Pride Festival admission is the primary source of funding for Center programs and services throughout the year. Those include youth programming, HIV support services, transgender support services, adult men’s and women’s discussion groups, free weekly legal clinic, free or low-cost meeting space for community organizations and much more. Many Center services are not available anywhere else in Northern California outside the Bay Area. Your attendance on June 19 is a contribution that will make a difference in our community, all year long!

Sacramento Pride Reinvented

2010-05-09T00:45:50Z

This is not your daddy’s Sacramento Pride!

Sacramento Pride is making big changes in 2010, all aimed at transforming the annual regional celebration of LGBT culture and accomplishments into an event worthy of its new tagline, California’s Capital Pride.

The list of changes begins with the day-long Pride Festival’s move this year to Sacramento’s Capitol Mall. The Festival will be held Saturday, June 19, from 10 am to 5 pm. Sandwiched between the State Capitol dome on the east and the golden spans of the Tower Bridge on the west, the Festival’s move to the scenic city gateway is intended to raise visibility and emphasize the important role of the LGBT community in Sacramento and statewide.

The Festival’s move from Southside Park, where the festival has been held for the past several years, to Capitol Mall has been warmly received by city officials, who awarded the event an $8,100 City of Festivals Grant for the first time this year. “Sacramento’s LGBT community is essential to making this city a great place to live, work and play,” said Councilmember Ray Tretheway. “The State Capitol and Tower Bridge will be the perfect backdrop as thousands of people from throughout the state and nation gather to celebrate our capital’s annual pride festival.”

Also new in 2010:

An amped-up entertainment line-up, featuring several nationally-known acts as well as a robust slate of local talent at two stage locations. Entertainers confirmed to date include:
-- Season 1 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Bebe Zahara Benet
-- Recording artist Kaylah Marin, whose dance remix hit “On the Floor (Oh Baby Please)” currently is #4 on the Billboard Club Play Charts
-- TWSS, or That’s What She Said, an L.A. musical comedy duo perhaps best known for the YouTube sensation, “U-Haul: The Music Video”
-- Singer/Songwriter Joel Evan, whose new hit single "Storm" is taking the dance clubs by storm.
A new Sacramento Pride Parade route, featuring a symbolic route reversal, beginning at 10 am at Southside Park (where it used to end)and ending at the entrance to the new Capitol Mall Festival grounds.
The high-energy Amtrak Dance Stage, made possible by a generous sponsorship from Amtrak.
An all-new Dyke Celebration. Scheduled for Friday evening, June 18, at the State Capitol West Steps, the event will feature a twist on the traditional “Dyke March” with a festive line-up of musical, dance, Drag King and spoken-word performances. Participants of all genders are invited to join the celebration of unity and equality.

Sacramento Pride 2010 will have the support of the largest number of corporate and non-profit sponsors in the history of the event, beginning with Title Sponsor Jackson Rancheria Hotel & Casino, Outword Magazine, Wells Fargo, The Hewlett Packard Company, Regional Transit, JetBlue, Barefoot Cellars, Safeway, Rainbow Chamber of Commerce of Sacramento, Rainbow Pages, SMUD, Amtrak, California State Fair, Uptown Studios, IKEA, BudLight, Lumens Light + Living, Infinite Entertainment, WriteAway Communications Services, Power of Two Promotions, CARES, Sacramento News & Review, and Cheer San Francisco. Outword Magazine publisher Fred Palmer, sales and marketing agent for Sacramento Pride, has been instrumental in attaining most of the event sponsors.

As always, Sacramento Pride is produced by volunteers and staff of the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, and proceeds support Center youth services, HIV support services, programs for transgender individuals, gay men and lesbians, a free weekly legal clinic and other services critical to the health and wellbeing of the LGBT community.

For more information, visit http://sacramentopride.org, or follow Sacramento Pride on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Sacramento Pride Moves to Capitol Mall

2010-01-27T23:06:24Z

The Sacramento Pride Festival, an annual event that brings thousands of attendees from throughout California, will be held for the first time on Capitol Mall in 2010, Bill Otton, interim director of the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, announced this week. The Pride Festival and Parade will be held Saturday, June 19.

Established in 1984, the day-long lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride festival has been held at Sacramento’s Southside Park for the past several years. Otton said the move to the Capitol Mall site will generate renewed excitement for an event that dates back to the early years of the gay civil rights movement in Sacramento and help bring attention to the role of the gay community in Sacramento civic life.

“We’re thrilled to be holding Sacramento Pride at Capitol Mall in 2010,” Otton said. “We’re focusing on Sacramento Pride as California’s Capital Pride celebration this year. With a view of the Capitol dome on one side and the historic Tower Bridge over the Sacramento River on the other, the Mall’s location helps us make that point in a tangible, visual way.”

Sacramento Pride is produced by the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center (http://www.saccenter.org) and is the largest source of funding for Center programs, which include services for at-risk youth, a free legal clinic, HIV/AIDS support services, transgender support services and numerous discussion groups and other activities for LGBT adults.

Otton also announced that the Center has contracted with Fred Palmer and Outword Magazine (http://www.outwordmagazine.com) as the sales and marketing agent for corporate sponsorships for both the Center and Sacramento Pride.

Sacramento Pride has launched an expanded marketing and outreach effort for 2010 in an attempt to boost attendance and corporate sponsorships that includes a new logo and website (http://www.sacramentopride.org) designed by graphic design firm Uptown Studios.

Major corporate sponsors of Sacramento Pride and the Center include Wells Fargo, Rainbow Chamber of Commerce of Sacramento, The Hewlett Packard Company, Outword Magazine and Uptown Studios.

The 2010 Sacramento Pride Committee, Chaired by business owner Josh Jacoby, has worked closely with city officials to develop logistical plans for festival infrastructure and security. Jacoby is founder and owner of two Roseville-based businesses, TechMarketing Autopilot and InnovaCrew Technology Services.

City Councilmember Ray Tretheway, who represents Downtown Sacramento, said holding the festival at Capitol Mall supports the city’s goal of bringing people and vitality to the downtown area.

“Sacramento’s LGBT community is essential to making this city a great place to live, work and play,” said Councilmember Tretheway. “The State Capitol and Tower Bridge will be the perfect backdrop as thousands of people from throughout the state and nation gather to celebrate our capital’s annual pride festival.”

Jacoby said the Pride Committee expects to increase festival attendance, which has approached 10,000 in previous years, as well as the number of festival exhibitors, which exceeded 220 booths in 2009.

“Our beautiful Capitol is an attraction to people from all over the state,” Jacoby said. “LGBT Californians are very proud of our state and its commitment to diversity and inclusion. Celebrating Sacramento Pride in the shadow of the Capitol reflects our community’s pride in being citizens of this great state.”

For more information about Sacramento Pride, visit http://www.sacramentopride.org or call 916-442-0185, Ext. 139.