Turnout at first-ever Pride Festival ‘fabulous!’

Font Size:

By Barb Ickes | Saturday, June 28, 2008 |

Jason Parrish, left, dances as Alex Denny, center, and Jessica Nichols help sell paintings at the Rainbow Art booth at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Pride Festival at the Mississippi Valley Fair Grounds on Saturday, June 28, 2008. (Elisa Petersen/Quad-City Times) Buy this Photo

The Quad-Citians behind this year’s Pride Festival expected a good turnout, but they got what they regarded as a great turnout.

“It’s been fabulous!” exclaimed Rich Hendricks, pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad-Cities. “People just keep coming through the gate.”

When the first-ever gay pride festival was moved from the flooded LeClaire Park to the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, some organizers feared the sprawling venue would dwarf their modest event. But that modest event turned into a well-attended festival, with hundreds of people filling out an open field that was framed in rainbow flags — a symbol of gay pride.

Jane I. Duax, a member of the event’s organizing committee, said she expected a good showing Saturday, given how much the Quad-Cities’ gay community has grown and blended with non-gay groups.

“We’ve become more active and visible,” she said. “Groups like Quad-Citians Affirming Diversity have reached out in an educational way to the gay and gray population, rather than focusing all of our efforts on gay youth.

“Between our events and the very successful Red Ribbon Dinner, we’re getting people together on a more regular basis. We communicate a lot more, share e-mail lists and things like that.”

It helps, she said, that a broader array of local groups are getting together to organize events such as the Pride Festival.

“The Metropolitan Community Church took the lead on this event, involving the non-profits to form a Pride committee,” she said. “This is not just a gay event. I mean, Avon is here.”

At least one local business also took a high-profile place at the fairgrounds.

Tim Hart, a longtime realtor for Ruhl & Ruhl, said he is proud of his employer’s respect for diversity and pointed to a sign at his vendor’s table as proof. It read: “Ruhl & Ruhl welcomes and values diversity in our staff and agents.”

As a gay man, Hart said he has a deep appreciation for a work environment that doesn’t merely tolerate differences, but embraces them.

“In fact, I believe we may be the only corporate Quad-City business with a booth,” he said.

He was one of many vendors who were kept especially busy Saturday, chasing fliers across the fairgrounds, courtesy of gusty winds. But fest-goers quickly pitched in, helping take down imperiled tents.

One element the organizers did not have to contend with this year was anti-gay protesters.

Wanda McKinney, of Milan, Ill., was helping with security Saturday and said she remembers gay- and lesbian-sponsored events of recent years that turned non-festive when an out-of-town church group showed up.

“We were downtown Rock Island a few years ago, and they came and started yelling and cussing at us,” she said. “I remember telling them, ‘I go to church, too, but we don’t act like that at my church.’”

A small collection of protesters stood watch across Locust Street from the fairgrounds before the festival gates opened, Hendricks said, but they didn’t stay.

Duax said she suspects the protesters were hindered by the distance between fest-goers and public sidewalks. Most of them, she said, refuse to pay the admission to go inside and express themselves.

“Some gay people still have fear, and the stuff that happened in Bettendorf and East Moline (where the cities’ mayors refused to sign gay pride proclamations) give weight to their fear,” she said. “The thing is that this truly is a gay-straight event. I’m very happy with the way it’s turned out.”

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.