Q-Seattle Events: Tacky Tourist Clubs

A story posted this afternoon by the Seattle Times lends some hope that Seattle Out & Proud (SOAP) may be ready to step aside and let others plan whatever is to happen this year for Pride week observances in Seattle.

"We don't know" whether there will be a parade this year, said Weston Sprigg, vice president of Seattle Out and Proud. The group's dozen or so volunteers are tired, he said. The group owes $102,000 to the city after moving the parade and festival from its longtime home in Capitol Hill to Seattle Center in 2006.

More than 200,000 people attended the celebration for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, but the organizers didn't make enough money from sponsorships and donations to cover the cost of holding the event at Seattle Center, which was far more expensive than the previous site, Volunteer Park.

The group's board plans to meet on Tuesday to make a final decision on the event, which was planned for the weekend of June 24.

It's clear that something will happen without SOAP's involvement. Whatever energies are left among SOAP's core of volunteers are best spent now figuring out long-term ways to deal with the debt the group assumed for itself.

In February, the group said it would partner with event organizer IES Production, which would produce the festival and pay $50,000 of the debt to the city.

The status of that is now uncertain, Sprigg said, and John Merner, deputy director at Seattle Center, says he is sending the bill to the city's legal department to collect.

The decision to move to Seattle Center was criticized by many on Capitol Hill, considered the heart of Seattle's gay community.

"An event of this scale requires considerable sponsorship, and I think with all the controversy swirling around Pride these past couple of years made it hard to secure that sponsorship," Merner said.

[Update, 4/24:] The Times expanded the story for the version that appears today on the front page. The major additions come from an interview with Shannon Thomas of the LGBT Center.

This year, even before it learned Seattle Out and Proud might cancel Seattle Pride, the LGBT Community Center obtained a license to hold Pride festivities June 23.

With so much unknown, "we've not formalized what those now might be," Thomas said. "We're sad to see their announcement but excited by what the results could be. We're figuring out a strategy for how we will become involved." ...

The LGBT Community Center's Thomas said she's confident it can pull off an event the scale of Seattle Pride.

"We're committed to making sure a Pride celebration occurs," she said. "If we step up, we want to have a very viable plan in place."

Those involved in organizing Pride events in the past said a successful event costs $50,000 or so.

George Bakan, editor of the Seattle Gay News, said, "there's probably $20,000 to $30,000 that can flow from businesses in a matter of days if the community center decides to take the lead and organize a major Capitol Hill Pride day."

And Capitol Hill loyalists welcomed news that Seattle Pride might return there.

Robert Sondheim, co-owner of Rosebud, said his restaurant witnessed a 10 percent decline in business during Pride weekend last year after the parade and festival moved.

"I've always been an advocate of keep Pride on the Hill," Sondheim said. Moving it downtown "is like having the Fremont Solstice downtown; it loses its meaning.

"Personally, I like it here better. As a business owner, I really want it here."

Labels: Gay Seattle, Seattle, Seattle Pride