The Strip on Cedar Springs is at the heart of the Oak Lawn Gayborhood, and a new organization call Pride in Dallas, is planning to bring the city’s Pride celebration back here in September.(David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

New Pride in Dallas organization aims to bring back a September Pride celebration in the Gayborhood

TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com

All the folks who have been clamoring for Pride to return to the gayborhood are about to get their wish: A newly-formed organization called Pride in Dallas this week announced plans for a week-long “celebration of love” in mid-September, the time frame in which Dallas celebrated Pride for 35 years — from 1984 to 2018.

The weeklong celebration will start Monday, Sept. 12, with the main event set for Sunday, Sept. 18.

Pride in Dallas, which was founded in May, is the “brainchild of several active members of the Dallas LGBTQ+ community who would like to bring Pride events back to the Dallas area commonly referred to as the Gayborhood,” noted a press release announcing the organization and its plans.

Board President James Ware said in the press release, “As a member of the Dallas queer community for nearly 40 years, I can tell you that Pride hasn’t been the same since it left its home on Cedar Springs in 2018. There are many folks in our community who feel the same and would like to see Pride events in September — in our own neighborhood — like it was for three decades.”

While the organization is planning a week of full events this coming September, organizers said this inaugural event will still be “a scaled-back version” of what they have in mind for 2023.

Funding has long been an issue for the Dallas Pride committee, which each year puts on the Miller Lite Music Festival and the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade. Beyond the cost of bringing in entertainers and getting the parade down the street, the committee had to pay for city permits, cover the rising costs of parade route barriers and extra security required by the city, and more. And those costs continued to rise steadily over the years.

That is why the committee — going back decades — worked to bring in corporate sponsors to help cover the necessary expenses, and also one of the reasons the committee chose to move the festival and parade to Fair Park.

Pride in Dallas organizers, however, intend to take a different approach: The organization is asking the community that has asked for Pride to return to the Gayborhood to help make that happen by contributing financially.

Pride in Dallas is seeking donations to cover permitting and event expenditures, including fencing, sanitation, security and entertainment. They have set up a GoFundMe page where community members and allies can donate, and participating bars in the area have pledged to match the GoFundMe donations up to $15,500 each.

Bars that have pledged to match donations are Caven Enterprises, The Round-Up Saloon, Woody’s, Lava Lounge and Cedar Springs Tap House.

Those who want to donate can visit GoFundMe.com/f/Pride-Parade-Cedar-Springs.

The GoFundMe page has a stated goal of raising $50,000. The explanation on the GoFundMe page notes:

“Help us bring PRIDE back to our neighborhood streets with a full-out PRIDE celebration. Your donation continues the celebration of diversity and equality beyond a single month and gives the LGBTQ+ community the visibility we deserve by celebrating PRIDE the way we did before.”

It continues: “Pride in Dallas was established in response to the overwhelming backlash from our community who want to see Pride celebrated in the very same neighborhood they consider home. Pride in Dallas is committed to bringing our September celebration back to Oak Lawn. …

Pride in Dallas serves to provide celebrations of LGBTQ+ Pride in the heart of the queer Dallas community. Our mission drives us to deepen the connection LGBTQ+ individuals have to the safe spaces that have cultivated and supported Pride celebrations since their inception, and facilitate events that inspire, educate, commemorate and celebrate our diverse community.”

Also helping keep costs down is the fact that Pride in Dallas is a “100 percent volunteer-based organization” that was “formed through the overwhelming support of the local LGBTQ+ community.”

The Pride In Dallas board of directors includes, in addition to Ware, Sameer Paroo as vice president, Andrew Vargas as treasurer, Tracy Nanthavongsa as secretary, Tanner Roberts as director of operations, Donnesh Amrollah as creative director and Haley Ablon as a board member.

The organization already has a basic website in place — PrideInDallas.org — with a panoramic photo showing the downtown Dallas skyline at night, lit up in the rainbow Pride colors. There is also a countdown clock across the top of the homepage counting down the days, hours, minutes and even seconds until the big Pride event on Sept. 18.

More information will be released in the weeks to come as plans for the Pride in Dallas celebration are finalized.

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North Texas Pride
The 2022 North Texas Pride Festival takes place Saturday, Sept. 17, from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at Saigling House, 902 E. 16th St. in Plano. This is the 11th annual Come As You Are festival, and it will feature sponsor and vendor booths, food, beverages, give-aways, donations to a partnering non-profit to be named at a later date, activities for both adults and children, bands, a DJ, dancing and more. The festival is a fundraiser supporting the vision of a permanent location that will be used by various organizations for events, meetings and educational activities, as well as a central resource center to communities north of Highway 635.

VIP tickets are available for a $20 donation and entitle the ticketholder to time indoors in air conditioning with light refreshments, alcoholic beverages and other refreshments. The VIP room will be open from noon-4 p.m.

To volunteer, register at https://forms.gle/n9wYixq1uKFmhPA28.

Texas Latino Pride
Texas Latino Pride 2022 takes place Saturday, Sept. 17, from 3-9 p.m. at Reverchon Park.

Texas Latino Pride is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that produces the largest Latinx Pride music festival in Texas and hosts, supports or sponsors a number of other LGBTQ events and community programs throughout the year.

Details for this year’s event are still being finalized. For more information on details and on being a sponsor or a vendor, visit the website at TexasLatinoPride.org.