Ultimately it might be impossible to say by how much attendance was down at Sunday’s gay Pride Festival in Lee Park.
But according to Michael Doughman, executive director of the Dallas Tavern Guild, we do know this: Approximately 5,300 people paid $5 each to get into the festival.
Beyond that, Doughman estimated there were 700 unpaid attendees who received complimentary wristbands through festival vendors or groups that marched in the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade, which would bring the total crowd to 6,000.
In previous years, about 7,500 people attended the festival, according to Doughman, which would mean a 20 percent drop — in line with what organizers predicted after they decided to fence in the park and charge admission for the first time.
But Doughman said precise attendance figures for previous years — or even this year, since we don’t know how many who received complimentary wristbands actually showed up — simply don’t exist.
And even if they did, he added, they wouldn’t really matter. In Doughman’s view, critics who predicted disaster for the festival as a result of the $5 admission charge clearly were proven wrong. And the Tavern Guild, which organizes both the Pride parade and festival, was vindicated.
“We got tons of compliments from people who were in the park, not only vendors but just from people who attended,” Doughman said. “It may have been less headcount, but we think the quality of event was highly improved.”
For one thing, Doughman said, fewer people meant more room to roam in Lee Park, which had almost reached its capacity during the festival in recent years. And banning outside alcohol all but eliminated growing problems such as underage drinking, public intoxication and fighting — not to mention the dangers of glass containers.
Most importantly, while attendance was down, money raised for Pride beneficiaries was way up. Fifty-three hundred people at $5 each equals $26,500. Subtract $4,000 for the temporary fencing, but then add net proceeds from beer sales, which hadn’t been tallied as of Tuesday but appeared to be up.
“I think it was really a solid success,” Doughman said. “I feel we did make the right move and for all the right reasons.”
So did anything go wrong with the revamped festival? According to Doughman, the only logistical problem occurred shortly after 4:30 p.m., when thousands suddenly arrived from the parade and overwhelmed volunteer staff at the four entrances to the festival — and particularly the main one on Hall Street.
But the lines moved relatively quickly, Doughman said, and the entrances had been cleared by shortly after 5.
“We’ll make adjustments next year on making it easier to get in the park,” he said. “Next year it should be even smoother.”
And, he promised, the $5 admission charge won’t go up.
DTG loves the spin game. Just looking at the photo attendance was WAYYYY down. They call it a success because they got more money. Pretty sure everyone else can see it for what it is. When you have Oklahoma City putting on a better pride than Dallas, there is an issue.
I attended both the Parade and Festival for the first time this year, I live in Albany, NY and was there seeing friends and we attended Pride. I was impressed with the parade and festival. It seemed to me to represent a home town feeling and yet large enought to really feel the joy and pride of being part of the larger LGBT community. I have attended Pride in larger cities which are TOO CROWDED and even my own city which has abouit 5000 at the Festival.. You did a great job!
Not surprisingly, Mr. Doughman’s logic is faulty. Of course they received ‘compliments from people who were in the park.’ Clearly, those people were not adverse to the ill-advised changes. The real measure of failure or success is how many people were shut out of a community event because they were unwilling to be caged in, or unable to pay admission, on top of purchasing food and drinks. I’ve been to Pride celebrations in multiple countries and cities, and never once was there a cover charge anywhere. (That includes London 2011 where there were more than 1,000,000 in attendance.) If the Tavern Guild isn’t creative enough to cobble together sponsorships and their own funds, or are just callously squeezing a few more dollars out of the community, they should kindly step aside and let someone else organize the event. My friends and I chose not to go to the park for the first time in many years. It’s abundantly clear from the pictures that I’ve seen that we were not alone.
I agree with Blaze , totally a slap in the face , I’m paying entrance for a public park that my TAX PAYING money takes care of, but people want more and more money, it’s already to the point that it oppresses me, I was so excited that I thought I would be able to enjoy my time with my gf and all the sudden I see fencing and 5$ dollars admission , it may just seem to be a lousy 5 dollars but for me its 20 packs of Ramen soup !!! and I’m happy to see that I’m not alone in this and there’s others who feel the same way! Total failure and disappointment and now I’m afraid to see what the halloween block party has for a surprise
Not to ruin your argument Daniela but Lee Park is not a public park. It is preserved by the Arlington Hall Conservancy and they charge a pretty penny for the rental of the park (believe me I know. we rented it 2 years ago for a march/rally). Besides that, I personally don’t attend the festival b/c I’m having such a good time on the strip and totally forget about it. For families with small children and minors, this is a good alternative to just going home after the parade. They pay 5 bucks to go to a festival and I pay 5 buck for a cocktail at Roundup. How is it any different? And be glad it was only 5 bucks. Went to Austin Pride a couple of years ago and they charge 10 for their festival and you didn’t have the nice trees and grass to sit on and it sucked.
WE did not mind the $5 charge for adults, but we did mind the $5 charge for a 3 year old just to use the restroom.
Just a question .. the $26.500 brought in subtract the $4000 for the fence .. where does the money go ? Back to the community .. ? I know it says ” money raised for Pride beneficiaries ” but what exactly does that mean for us in the Oaklawn Community ..
Curiously Asking …
The beneficiary is Youth First Texas, according to a previous Voice article. While YFT is a very worthy organization, the beneficiary and amount of the donation are really moot points. The bottom lines is that DTG has taken a community tradition and turned it into a money-making scheme. They weren’t even honest about it. Mr. Doughman claimed in a third Voice article that the fencing of the park and admission charge were due to TABC and 9/11 (ten years later?). Neither could be further from the truth.
the beneficiaries are YFT and AIDS Arms (or AIDS Services…can’t remember off the top of my head)
Thanks … I don’t think I’ve ever heard of YFT myself. That is still a lot of money to make in a few hours. Not sure just how I feel about that … I know the $5.00 fee left a bad taste in all of my friends mouth and I know alot of us did not attend the park because we just thought it wasn’t worth it and where ever the money went we would never see any results from it .. I love Oaklawn, love living here, I try to support and buy in Oaklawn stores but 26K WOW..and I know We’ll never see any direct results of it. While I understand There are permit fees, clean up fees and controlling Alcohol for minors etc.. But dang REALLY $26K
The primary beneficiary is Youth First Texas. The other beneficiaries are AIDS Arms, AIDS Services of Dallas, AIDS Interfaith Network and Legacy Counseling.
It was a good festival. compared to last year it was less drunk people .
Change do hurt and over time it gets better, if not then they fail.
As people have said $5 is a small price to pay to HELP with
the cost. It is your community, if u wish not to pay the $$ then stay on the stripe and enjoy that.
@blaze u say it all just for $$ scheme. How do you come to the point? How do you know it is not from a TABC issue with all the bottle and stuff in the park? U think MAYBE they were told it was getting outta hand and they had to do this?
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Being in a fenced area which was LARGE i felt ok with. Also the area across the festival was open, peole could have made there own FREE party there:>
I liked to know what was the # of arrest and tickets compared to other festivle from the past. How many were ejected compared to last year and in the past.
Its good to know the money IS getting spread around. I think they should have done more advertising in advance, Flyler’s in the bars and signs, telling us about the $5.00 fee and Just what the money is going for ( permit fees, park charges, cleaning and what Charities the money will help support ) I am HIV+ and it would be nice to know that the $5 I’m giving might one day come in need of myself. Just Say’n
The parade was fun and the festival was a nice change of pace. If only it had been 75 degrees.
I heard the crowd that didn’t want to pay just gathered around the fence. I’m curious if the number of arrests/tickets averages out to past years numbers if you count those done outside the fence.
Read for yourself the related posts linked below the article above. Mr Doughman admits that DTG intended to increase revenues by requiring an admission fee. (Then he makes some vague references to TABC and 9/11.) It’s great to give money to worthy organizations, but one must weigh the cost against the potential benefits. It seems here that giving more money to a couple of organizations that benefit a small segment of our community comes at a cost of alienating a much larger segment of that same community. In my opinion, that cost is too high, and should be reconsidered.
All those complaining about the 5 bucks paid more for their tshits,shoes,socks watches,rings,shorts,tatoo’s,earrings,laundrydetergent,soap,toiletpaper,toothbrush.ect….so stop whining about 5 bucks….or pay 10 grand for a table at Black Tie…
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Why can’t the pride festival be held Saturday and Sunday with MUCH better entertainment? Why not have a Razzle Dazzle type street festival? Heck they even got Cazwell. That brought in more people than Pride in the Park did. I just don’t understand how these goofs can turn the pride for a city with such a large gay population into a dud. We need some new younger blood running the DTG with fresh ideas. Pride in Dallas is losing attendance that’s not a good thing!
My group had no problem with the $5 fee and enjoyed the atmosphere in the Park and the Strip. We never felt caged. I can see this getting better. One negative was the gates to get in were brutal. And BOO, if you are charging for children 3 and under. Really, they take up little room. Sometimes change is painful but needed.
I kind of agree with Oak Lawn Stud that the event would be so much better on a Saturday. Also, I would like to see a bigger advertising push to get the word out through all media outlets. You want bigger attendance and vendors then your chairs & committee should be reaching out to all communities, media of the Metroplex (not just Dallas). This worked for me in my non-profit days. But I dont know how the DTG runs it.
you keep talking about “saturday”…you do realize that pride is a weeking long event, with things starting on Thursday night, and events being held throughout the weekend – now, if you’re talking the parade and festival alone, than yeah, I can kind of see your point – less people would have to take of Monday…wait, who are we kidding…they’d still take it off. I’d rather pay $5 for a controlled environment, opposed to it being free, and dealing with the morons that have ruined the expeirence in past years. And also – I agree with Scott R. it’s $5….and I’m sure most of the people bitching paid more than that to get into S4, Sue’s and any place else charging a cover – but they probably didn’t mind that….
$5 is a bargain. They charge $15 for Austin’s festival which I also attended the week before.