PDX Pride

[olivermoss]

Because I'd rather go and have regrets than stay home and wonder.

I went. It was okay. Then, yeah, the heat got to me and it wasn't great. The lack of water was really odd. Some of the food carts probably had some, but the only way to find out was to stand in line and I didn't see people walking around with purchased water. If I had, I would have asked where they got it.

I was dressed in a very unflattering way to help with with the heat, a worn athletic shirt because I knew it would be more comfortable. I looked terrible, but oh well. I was trying to stay cool avoid burning, etc.

They had actual walkways and uneven areas were filled with sand:


Compare to last year:



Obviously the weather helped, but those new walkways would be amazing in any weather.

Also, a lot of things that annoyed me last year where fixed. For the most part, if a trans booth or group was for kids only it was actually made clear... for the most part. The change makes me think this was a problem a lot of people had.

The main problems were heat related. A lot of people running the booths were checked out. One rep mixed up who was in line and who was cutting and got angry at costumers of a well know brand. I walked away from a lot of booths because the people were just done and not playing attention.

I did enjoy the 'Celtic EDM' performance with the ASL interpreter dancing to show the beat because there were no lyrics. I bought some stickers to support my local Rocky Horror Shadow Cast who are still going after all these years. I won a rainbow bracelet with a Trimet (local transit) logo on it at the Trimet booth. Annnd that I am not bothering to post a picture of it or of most things, or even write this in an organized way, yeah, I am still beat from the heat.

After, I went to Target, bought a liter bottle of water and killed it. Then I went to Laurelhurst Park to rest for a bit. There was a performance of Love's Labor's Lost going on. Then I went to Crush's highly promoted block party and like last year it was hilariously crowded. They had a bit more space, but it was also physically impossible to enter the bar or the outdoor area. Then I went home and crashed.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

I'm glad that some stuff was improved! Those walkways look much better. Also glad that the whole thing was less "youth-focused-without-telling-you". That seemed to be the case in Denver this year too, so I can hope it's a broader trend.

The heat sounds brutal. I'm glad you finally got water, but it sucks that it wasn't as available at the event as it should have been.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, in some ways it was improved, but the more I think about the lack of water and also most of the booths being 'buy term life insurance'... anyway, still better to go I think.

[mistressofmuses]

The overrepresentation of life insurance at Pride events is a bit uncomfortable.

The lack of water is a big issue, and I really hope they fix that going forward.

But I'm glad you went and got to see it, and aren't left wondering how it would have been.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, just most of it was the big sponsors. It would have been better if the 'artists booths' were better curated and not just like reselling stickers bought in bulk from a catalogue or... memes are community property so it's not stealing per se.... <- stuff like this just jumps out at me more due to having run stuff. 3 booths were all using the same supplier.

I don't know how their costs work so maybe they can't have many real artists, but it's a shame. It just was a bad joke compared to what is possible, but also I know it's hard and costs are costs.

[mistressofmuses]

It sucks that there weren't so many artists. :/ Corporate sponsorship of pride certainly... is. And I know that the bigger fest stuff likely *couldn't* happen without, it's just really *something* when every other booth is life insurance or a bank.

Here there is at least some emphasis on artsy stuff but... unfortunately the biggest artist tents really have no intrinsic connection to pride. It's more places that specialize in going to *any* sort of fair or event, selling jewelry or bongs or whatnot. Not queer-owned or queer-themed, just... the usual stuff they sell. Some of the stuff is quite nice, but it's more retail than "community artist." Or it's places that are selling relevant stuff... but it's like... a booth selling teeturtle shirts.
That said, my friends who did that pin set a while back always have their booth, and there's a local queer indie book press that usually has a tent, and there are a few other local queer artists that are pretty reliably there.

I noticed the "lots of people who mysteriously have the same stickers obviously sourced from the same place" but they mostly seemed to be freebie swag rather than for sale.

It sucks how hard it is to balance making booth rental affordable to truly small local artists or businesses or community groups vs. being able to at least break even/get the relevant people paid. I know that's been an issue here, and a few years back almost all the artsy stuff was gone in favor of more big corporate tents, but they've started to skew back to a better mix.

[olivermoss]

At ours all the freebie stickers were unique, because they also had bank logos or Nike logos or sports teams logos. It is places with low overhead and ability to sell cheap that can most afford to be there, and honestly a lot of attendees do just want to pick up a bunch of random pride stickers. It's just sad to see PDX Pride be so painfully generic.

But, I mean, they're obviously organizationally a mess. The water stuff this year. They didn't announce 2020 online events until the day before and the ticketed events were full from the insiders knowing they even existed.

Having better artists not only brings money into the community and supports the queer art scene, but it makes for a better event to have them. It's interesting, gives flavor, etc.

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah, there are often the freebie logo stickers. I know I wound up with a few of them. But still, it sucks when things do feel so generic. And especially a place like Portland, which is supposed to be weird! This should be the weirdest of the weird!

Though the water issues, the previous problems with announcing events, etc. definitely points to some organizational issues. I hope they're able to get that kind of thing sorted out, because that might go a long way toward making any other changes for the better. (At least the footing was improved this year.)

But that's exactly it: having better local (or at least regional) artists is one of those rippling benefit things. It benefits the artists themselves, and bolsters the scene as a whole, and makes the event itself something interesting and unique to the location. It sucks for an event like Pride to feel interchangeable with any other.

[oracne]

Maybe next year they could have one of those water spray tents for people who get overheated. I gather it hasn't been so hot in the past?

[olivermoss]

It varies how hot it gets, this was particularly bad but also a hot summer was expected. There wasn't even a lot of shade. Also, when I run indoor events in September in this town I make sure there are ample water stations.

The event is in a weird place right now with the new weekend and also the pandemic interruption. We did have one last year, but an event being gone for two years is a lot.

There was little shade and most of it was for kids only or elders only.

I don't know what the logistics are like of doing an event at waterfront park so I don't want to be too harsh, but man that was not great.

[oracne]

Hopefully the organizers made notes for next year.