Jason Turnbow

The first virtual Dallas Pride is coming together

Tammye Nash | Managing Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on Pride celebrations across the county — around the world, really — including the annual Dallas Pride weekend. But not even the coronavirus can stop Pride completely.

Dallas Pride, a weekend full of events that usually includes the Miller Lite Music Festival on Saturday and the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade on Sunday, last year moved from its decades-long home (the weekend of the third Sunday in September, in Oak Lawn), to the first weekend in June at Fair Park. Had things gone as planned this year, the festival and parade would have again taken place on the first weekend in June at Fair Park.
But things, quite obviously, have not gone as planned this year — not for Dallas Pride and not, really, for the country as a whole.

The Dallas Pride Committee, led by Executive Director Jaron Turnbow, initially decided to move the celebration from the first weekend in June to the last weekend in July, hoping that the extra several weeks would be enough time for the epidemic to die down and in-person gatherings to once again be safe. That, as we know, hasn’t happened.

Rather than dying out, the epidemic, fueled by selfishness and ignorance, has instead gained steamed. And that forced the Pride committee to make yet another change: taking the celebration virtual.

But while it allows for a Pride celebration to happen, a virtual event most definitely poses some new and unique challenges for organizers.

“Going virtual is a whole new world,” Turnbow said. “But considering the time restraints and the circumstances, it’s actually gone quite smoothly.

“The biggest hurdle has been time,” he continued. “There are a lot of moving parts for events of this size, not just internally for Pride, but also for the organizations, businesses and sponsors involved. We are all used to in-person events and everything that goes along with planning for that. Getting hundreds of people all on the same page and learning this new virtual world together has been a unique challenge.”

Turnbow admitted that, when the committee first decided to take Dallas Pride to the virtual world, “I expected it to be easier, to some extent. But nothing about this has been easier. Had we known back in January what we know now about the pandemic and the course it would take, we could’ve made the changes earlier and given [ourselves] more time to make the transition.”

The coronavirus pandemic, he continued, “has had its little fingers in everything, which has made deadlines far more difficult than I, or any of us, imagined. Having said this, it has been quite fun to learn new things in the course of going virtual. It will be exciting to carry some of these new things into 2021.”

The grand marshals
Traditionally, potential grand marshals for Dallas Pride are nominated by community members, then the Pride committee puts nominees to a vote by the community, with the top two vote-getters named as grand marshals. But because “this year has not gone as planned,” Turnbow said, “and time has not been on our side,” the top six nominees are all being named as grand marshals of Pride 2020.

They are: Dallas City Council member Adam Medrano, Kristi Wilson with Andrews Distributing, Danny Cabrera AKA Liquor Mini, longtime activist and fundraising couple Linze Serrel and Sable Alexander (Bill Lindsey and Michael Champion), legendary drag performer and Dallas Voice columnist Cassie Nova and Greg Dollgener Memorial AIDS Fund founder David Hearn.

The weekend lineup
On Saturday, July 25, Ron Corning will host #DallasPrideLivestream with entertainment provided by local musicians, bands, celebrity cameos in the afternoon and DJs later in the evening. The shows will stream online at

DallasPride.org, on Facebook Live and on YouTube.
The show beginning at 2 p.m. will feature Big Freedia, David Hernandez, Kristine W., Rayvon Owen, Ty Herndon, Brody Ray, Crisdee and Adrian Lea of The Primadonna. The DJs’ livestream kicks off at 9 p.m. and will feature Dorian Electra and DJ Deanne.

On Sunday, July 26, #DallasPrideDragBrunch, hosted by 2019 co-Grand Marshal Marsha Dimes, will stream online from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The show will give viewers a chance to donate, with all proceeds going to this year’s Dallas Pride beneficiary organizations: Coalition for Aging LGBT, AIDS Services of Dallas, Equality Texas, TGRA, the Miss Gay Texas Pageant System and the United Court of the Lone Star Empire.

After the Drag Brunch show is done, it’s parade time. Only this year, instead of an actual parade down Cedar Springs or through Fair Park, organizers want LGBTQ Dallasites and their allies to take Pride to ALL the streets of Dallas.

“We are encouraging everyone to dress up in their favorite pride outfits, decorate their vehicles and parade around town,” Turnbow said. “Be visible — whether you are going to work, shopping or just out for a Sunday drive. Be visible, like people are doing for graduations and birthdays — a reverse parade!”

The CW33 partnership
In 2019, local TV station CW33 sent a team to Fair Park to broadcast the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade live.

This year, even before the pandemic hit, parade organizers were working with the TV station to expand and improve CW33’s participation in Pride 2020.

CW33 began last month airing “Profiles in Pride,” a series of segments included on the station’s new show, Morning After, as well as a series of custom-created 30-second vignettes that ran throughout June Pride Month.
CW33’s participation in Pride continues this month, with Ron Corning and Jenny Anchondo hosting The Pride of Texas, a 30-minute special featuring highlights from previous Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parades, interviews and the Profiles in Pride segments.

July and beyond
This year, Pride won’t end on “parade Sunday.” Instead, the #DallasPrideSpotlight will continue through November.

The #DallasPrideSpotlight series, airing on the Dallas Pride social media channels, will turn the focus on festival vendors, parade entries, grand marshals and beneficiary organizations, The series will also include

#CookingWithPride, hosted by local LGBTQ chefs and offering up “delicious recipes to try at home,”

#DallasDragItUp tutorials with local drag queens and kings, #DallasTeenPride with Real Live Connections and

#DallasFamilyPride with Rainbow Roundup focused on LGBTQ families in DFW.

And finally, this fall Dallas Pride and Friends of Fair Park will join together to sponsor #DallasRainbowRun, with participating runners being given a shirt and a race medal to “dress with Pride” when they run. Watch for more details on the run, coming soon.

“This year is not what anyone expected,” Turnbow said of Dallas Pride 2020 and how it is playing out. “We’ve all had to take the circumstances presented to us and make the best of it.

“When stress is at an all-time high for most of humanity, we need to remember to be kind, be caring and be understanding of one another,” he continued. “For Dallas Pride, we are excited to learn new skills, try some new things for 2020 and look forward to in-person events and new approaches for 2021.”