in: http://www.anchoragepress.com/
It’s that time of year again; the drag queens are pulling out the bingo cards, floats are being decorated, and rainbow flags are being waved. Anchorage Pride is in full swing. This week-long festival every June is a time for the GLBT community and their allies to come together, educate the greater community, and have fun in the process through large GLBT-themed events, many of which are marketed as family friendly.
There are just a few, teeny teensy rules you should adhere to if you want to have the best possible time without irritating everyone else.
1. Dress however you want, but respect the family environment.
Pride is a time to be yourself, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to dress up. Do you have a thing for cat ears? Go ahead and wear them. Bikinis, however, aren’t necessarily family friendly. Neither are the raver outfits that look like bikinis with a tiny tutu attached. Men, please wear pants (drag queens excluded, of course); we don’t want to take our kids to the festival to have fun and suddenly come face to face with a naked man wearing only a codpiece and body paint. If you’re secure enough to dress that scantily, more power to you, but please be respectful of the fact that this year’s Pride parade and festival are geared toward families; we don’t feel like scarring the kids quite yet.
2. Wear deodorant. For the love of God, wear deodorant.
Just because Pride’s parade and festival are outside doesn’t mean that we can’t smell you. If it’s sunny and warm, we will, and we’ll hate you for it. In fact, if you plan to spend more than, say, two hours at the festival, bring deodorant with you. It’s not that difficult to excuse yourself to a bathroom and put on another layer once in a while, and the less human sweat we smell, the happier we’ll all be. Nothing ruins a community gathering like strong B.O.
3. Pass on the pot.
Legal or not, tons of people in Anchorage smoke weed. If you go to Pride this weekend, please hold off. This goes back to the family friendly bit; people who take kids to parades and festivals hate smelling pot on the breeze even more than body odor. It stinks, and it makes parents uncomfortable to have their kids around. If you need to be high to have a good time at the festival, then maybe you should go do something more interesting.
4. Don’t get wasted.
This isn’t a bar, it’s a festival at a park; don’t come drunk. In addition to being annoying as hell, there are kids around. Have a beer before you show up if you want, but don’t get sloshed. Even if there weren’t kids around, it would still be annoying to those of us trying to have a good time. It’s like with smoking weed; if you need to get drunk to have fun, party somewhere else.
5. Control your kids.
Time to pick on the parents a bit; yes, the parade and festival are family friendly, but that doesn’t mean you can just let your kids run wild. Unattended children are a pain in the neck—they interrupt the stage show, they run into us when they aren’t looking, and they make other kids whine about why they can’t go and run around as well. And, if your children do misbehave, don’t yell at them for twenty minutes to “come back here,” go and grab them yourself. Get off your butt and take control of your kids; don’t interrupt our fun day with your lazy yelling.
6. Tip the performers.
You don’t have to tip every single performer on stage, and the ones you do tip don’t need five dollar bills, but it is polite to show your appreciation to them. The performers at PrideFest aren’t paid for entertaining you, so a dollar here and there shows that you care. If you don’t want to interrupt the performance, there is usually a hat or basket nearby designated for tips - put it there instead.
7. If you are watching a performance, shut up.
It’s common courtesy people; if you are sitting on the grass watching the show, don’t talk so loudly that the people around you can’t enjoy it. By all means, communicate with your friends, but don’t be the one the rest of the crowd turns around and glares at.
8. Don’t just take free stuff from booths, learn about them.
This probably a moot point, but the vendors at PrideFest will undoubtedly have free items on their tables that are up for grabs. Go ahead and grab them (after making sure they are free) but don’t immediately walk away; talk to the vendor about their organization. It’s simple courtesy, instead of paying them money, you are paying them your time. There is nothing more disrespectful than walking up to a person, grabbing their stuff, and then completely ignoring them. You are better than that.
9. Pick up your trash.
There are trash bins all over the park strip, use them; trash is gross.
10. Mingle.
Possibly the most important rule about Pride; talk to the people around you. The idea of Pride is community, so if you go to the parade or festival, don’t be afraid to be a neighbor and say hello. And if someone approaches you with a conversation, don’t immediately write them off as a creeper; building bridges and forming new acquaintances is what community is all about. Embrace it. Unless you can tell that person isn’t wearing deodorant, then you can shun them.
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