UPDATE: Dallas Pride Executive Director Jaron Turnbow has provided this statement to Dallas Voice:

“Dallas Pride is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening, supporting and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community by fostering connections between members of the community, as well as with our allies and supporters. We were recently asked if we would like to be a recipient of a donation from an event. Through miscommunication, this event was incorrectly promoted as an exclusive Dallas Pride event.

“While it was not an event that we produced, we were honored to be the beneficiary and to inspire others outside of our community to celebrate Pride.

“Dallas Pride proudly supports our LGBTQ+ community and businesses, and is pleased to have allies who stand beside us with their generous support, as well. Together, we can further our mission.”

— Jaron Turnbow, executive director, Dallas Pride

 

ORIGINAL POST: LGBTQ bar and nightclub owners and managers were surprised this week to find announcements online this week for “The Official Pride Bar Crawl — Dallas” which, surprisingly enough, doesn’t crawl into any of the LGBTQ bars/clubs/restaurants or, in fact, anywhere near the Oak Lawn gayborhood.

The official Pride Bar Crawl – Dallas, presented by Top Shelf Crawls was being billed as the “official” bar crawl of Dallas in posts on Facebook and on its EventBrite page, and claimed to have “teamed up with Dallas Pride for the Official Pride Bar Crawl” on June 11. The Facebook post and the EventBrite page both included the official Dallas Pride logo but that logo was removed from the Facebook post after Dallas Pride Executive Director Jaron Turnbow contacted the company.

The EventBrite page, as of this writing, has been taken off line. The Official Pride Bar Crawl – Dallas post was also taken down, it appears.

Dallas Voice has attempted to contact Top Shelf Crawls. We got an automated response saying they would get back in touch with us within five business days.

Dallas Voice has communicated with Dallas Pride Executive Director Jaron Turnbow. We expect a statement from him soon and will update this post as soon as we get that statement.

The “official Pride crawl” from Top Shelf offered two routes: Route One included Cutiepies Pizza, Concrete Cowboy, Ill Minister Pub, Playground and Nodding Donkey, all in the Uptown Area. Route Two included Electric Shuffle, Trinity Cider, Three Links Deep Ellum, Off the Cuff and Blum at the Sporting Club.

(Nothing against any of these bars, but none of them are LGBTQ bars and none are in the Oak Lawn/Cedar Springs area.)

Tickets for this event range from $13.99-$26.99, and there is a no refund policy.

Tanner Roberts, manager for Cedar Springs Tap House told Dallas Voice today, “I had seen it popping up as a sponsored ad on Facebook for a little while. I finally clicked on it today to see what gay bars were signed on. That’s when I was so shocked to see it was bars that aren’t in our community.”

He continued, “What had me worried was that it was associated with Dallas Pride and the usage of the Dallas Pride logo on the EventBrite link. … Apparently, the same company is doing the same thing in Nashville, as per one of my friends there.”

The Top Shelf Crawls website indicates the company holds “unique bar crawls” in various cities, most of them along the East Coast, it appears. Under its “upcoming events” link, Top Shelf is hosting “Official Pride Bar Crawls” on June 11 in St. Pete, Fla., Greenville, S.C., and Nashville. The Dallas event has been removed from the site’s “upcoming events” section since 6 p.m., after Dallas Voice began asking questions about it.

Roberts said he has never heard from this company, and that the Tap House is in no way affiliated with that bar crawl. Several other Dallas Tavern Guild members have also said they were never contacted by this company and are not connected in any way with the event.

—

A separate event, Pride Bar Crawl – Dallas WILL visit LGBTQ bars on June 18.

Seven of the bars/restaurants along Cedar Springs are, in fact, participating in the Pride Bar Crawl – Dallas (no “official” in the name and no Dallas Pride logo on the page) being presented Saturday, June 18, by Crawl With Us. Participating venues are Roy G’s, Sue Ellen’s, S4, JR.’s Bar & Grill, TMC: The Mining Company, Mr. Misster and Cedar Springs Tap House.

Tickets for this event are $15-$20, available on EventBrite, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Trevor Project.

—

On Top Shelf’s Facebook post about the Official Pride Bar Crawl – Dallas, in a comment thread that appears to have since been deleted (but we have screen caps), a Dallas resident asked why the company was using the official Dallas Pride logo “when you are not affiliated with Dallas Pride?”

The company responded: “We are working with Dallas Pride on this crawl and a big portion of the proceeds are going to them to support the community.”

Then the Dallasite asked why, if this were an official Pride crawl, none of the gay bars are included. The company did not directly respond to that question but later posted a response directed to the person who had asked the question:

“Thank you so much for the question about the Dallas Pride Crawl. First and foremost with any of our crawls is the safety of those participating. When organizing a crawl, we work with venues that are within an easily walkable distance since these are walking crawls. That is why all of our crawls take place along a route or within a radius of less than a few blocks.”

(A large number of LGBTQ establishments — none of which, apparently, were contacted about participating in this event — are all located within a three-to-four-block span on Cedar Springs Road, by the way.)

The Top Shelf post continues: “Not only does this give our participants a fun and exclusive night out within an easily accessible location, but also helps reduce the risk of impaired driving between venues that would be spread out throughout a larger area.

“Regarding our Pride Crawls, working with the local Pride organizations and a donating a portion of the proceeds to a local LGBTQIA+ charity or foundation was one of our top priorities. We have either partnered with or are actively attempting to contact the local Pride organizations regarding their involvement in all of the cities we produce crawls in. We are working with Dallas Pride and are very excited to be doing so so this crawl can have the most positive impact in the Dallas LGBTQIA+ community.

“We also made it a priority to include as many LGBTQIA+ owned, operated and affiliated venues as possible within the area or route of the crawls. In Dallas, so far, we have partnered with Bootys and Tequila Delicious, both of which advertise themselves as gay bars and have Drag shows etc.

“We are also open to any suggestions or recommendations for venues any of our participants would like to have included that are in, along or around the designated crawl route or area. We may have already been in touch with them, but we are happy to reach out again to see if we can get your favorite venue on board for the crawl.”

Bootys Street Food is a bar and restaurant located inside Deep Ellum Hostel. Bootys does, indeed, host drag shows and self identifies as “the only LGBTQIA+ Bar in Deep Ellum.” However, neither Bootys nor Deep Ellum Hostel are listed on Top Shelf’s pub crawl routes.

Tequila Delicious, at 2901 Thomas Ave., according to its website, is “a neighborhood taqueria specializing in margaritas and street tacos. Large dog friendly patio with games and good vibes. Sports and Live Entertainment weekly.”
The restaurant hosts a “Drag Lunch” every Saturday and Sunday. Nothing on the restaurant website indicates this is an LGBTQIA+ bar.

— Tammye Nash