The Marty’s Live float in the 2018 Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade on Cedar Springs. In 2019, the parade moves to Fair Park in June. (Photo by Chuck Marcelo)
Dallas Pride events — including the Music Festival and the parade — will be moving to the first weekend in June in 2019, and both events will be held at Fair Park, Dallas Pride and Dallas Tavern Guild Executive Director Jarron Turnbow confirmed in a press conference this morning (Monday, Dec. 17).
“While we will never forget and will always be grateful to Judge Jerry L. Buchmeyer, who was the first federal judge to rule the Texas sodomy law unconstitutional in September 1983, the month of June has become known nationwide as LGBTQ Pride Month,” Turnbow notes in the press release. “LGBTQ history has been made in the month of June in numerous years, including several recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that validate and empower our community.
“This year, Dallas will open LGBT Pride Month with a bang.”
Turnbow also stressed that changes in Pride in 2019 are “stepping stones” toward the goal of turning Dallas Pride into a “world-class LGBT Pride celebration by 2020.”
Dallas Tavern Guild moved its November meeting to the Rose Room in the evening last month to give more people a chance to attend and voice their opinions about plans to move Pride to June and to Fair Park. The Tavern Guild had already voted to make the move by the time of that meeting, but, as Turnbow says in the press release todau, “We heard you, we took notes, and we are hopeful that our plans for 2019 and 2020 will make you proud.”
Miller Lite Music Festival in Fair Park
The Miller Light Music Festival in Fair Park, including the Family Pride Zone and Teen Pride, will be held Saturday, June 1 next year, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the Esplanade and the Centennial Building at Fair Park.
“The new venue provides more than triple the space to add more activities and include more organizations that serve and support the LGBTQ community,” Turnbow says.
The Centennial Building offers “a massive space” that is air conditioned, has restrooms and “shelter in the event of inclement weather,” he continues. It is also handicap-accessible with “ample parking for everyone.” But those who choose not to drive to Fair Park can take advantage of the DART rail line, which stops just “a stone’s throw” away from the building.
Turnbow adds, “Fair Park is ecstatic to work with us and joins our vision for growing into a LGBTQ Pride celebration that will rival other major cities.”
Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade
The Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade will be held Sunday, June 2 at 2 p.m. in 2019, inside Fair Park.
Turnbow says that the city will be completing a streetscape improvements project on Cedar Springs Road between Douglas Street and Oak Lawn Avenue, the parade’s traditional route, making the street’s availability for the parade questionable.
While the project will bring “massive improvements” to The Strip, “with larger sidewalks, more lighting, beautification improvements and more,” he notes, “we cannot safely have a parade through a major construction zone, and we do not want to impede on the improvement project. To ensure that the parade happens, we have decided to relocate the parade to Fair Park for 2019.”
Turnbow encourages the public to watch the
and social media pages for further news and announcements regarding Pride for 2019.
— Tammye Nash
Good bye Dallas pride I will not be attending. It’s sad when our own pride organizers take their plays from a Trump play book. I think this guild has been in power long enough and should be removed from office.
COMMENT
OH SO.. the STRAIGHT PEOPLE who thought the POOCH Parade was ‘TOO GAY and NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY’ to have on Easter at Oak Lawn Park, NOW they wanted their Oak Lawn Lives and TURTLE CREEK ASSOCIATION ‘not to be SO GAY and inconvenienced’ and cost the city $$$ WON !!! this is BULLSHIT !!! absolute BULLSHIT !!! But HMMM.. what did Fort Worth do ???? move their parade from Jennings/Main street right TO THE MIDDLE OF DOWN TOWN FORT WORTH !!! So basically some wimpy assed gay people succumbed to the Straight $$$$$$ Community in Dallas .. BULLSHIT !!
parade behind walls… wow what a way to show pride and express yourself. what is the route of parade? you make that decision yet? should be easy since it is behind walls and brush etc not police needed or as many.
This is absolutely ridiculous!!! Gay pride should be in Oak Lawn the epicenter for our community. Developers money has to be particularly behind this decision. This move was definitely not made with the gay community as a whole in mind. One more step in removing the gays from Oak Lawn. I propose a protest on Cedar Springs the day of Pride
They just signed the parades death warrant. No one is going to travel all the way to Fair Park for a parade behind the fair’s walls.
Clearly whoever planned this does not listen to the community and only cares about money!!
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…progress is a bigger platform, not a more marginalized one,…why not Main St Garden or Klyde Wareen Park for the festival with the Parade route down Main Street….ummm let me guess…..
Is this a temporary move while there is construction or is this permanent? Who in their right mind would want to go to South Dallas/Fair Park for the parade that has been on Cedar Springs for DECADES?
I understand the desire of some to move into mainstream America, to be validated, and respected. And, yes, we have a ways to go until all our rights are finally available to us as they are to others and not being constantly threatened. But is that the reason for the change? Or does it have to do with logistics? Better site, more room kind of thing. Apparently the organizers want to make the parade “world class”. why? What does that term mean? Bigger, more diverse crowds? More media coverage? More people flocking to Dallas for the Parade like in San Francisco? If that’s the main goal for the move, so be it. But is there anything which will be lost as a result? Should that be the focus? Does it’s previous location make it unique and worth saving? Just food for thought.
Cedar Springs is where the parade belongs. We just dedicated a state historic marker there celebrating its role in LGBT history. When any significant LGBG event occurs, where do we assemble? Fair Park? The parade will fail. Just like the move of the festival from Lee Park to Reverchon. Though the result will likely be worse