BY KATIE DETTMAN
Members of the Thunder Chickens prepare for the fi ve-legged race
SUZI STEFFEN
news
Out, Proud and Smiling
Pride turns 17 under sunny skies
It’s true – one doesn’t need to go all
the way to Portland to celebrate the gay:
Thousands of LGBT folks and allies reveled
in their rainbow-colored best at Alton Baker
Park on Saturday, Aug. 9, during the Eugene/
Springfi eld Pride Festival.
This year’s theme was “Live, Love, Be.”
The weather was ideal for the event — sunny
and clear with a cool breeze. The celebration
experienced a bit of growth over last year’s
fête, with 56 vendors and more than 3,200
participants. Last year there were 40 vendors
and about 3,000 attendees.
Julie Weismann of QueerEugene.com
started what she hopes is a new tradition: Pride
games, with teams doing everything from a
fi ve-legged race to fi nding new and creative
ways to pass beach balls and water bottles
from person to person. Local entertainers
as well as acts from the San Francisco area
wasn’t aware of, and I’ve lived here 20 years.
I’m glad I came,” he said.
Kelly Windhaven, a massage therapist
and energy healer in Eugene who comes to
the Pride celebration every year, wore a kilt,
made by her partner, and a 2008 Eugene/
Springfi eld Pride Festival T-shirt. “This year is
better — there are more people, more booths,
more vendors, more people, I’m hugging and
kissing my sweetie, so I’m having a great
time!”
Mary Robertson, Windhaven’s partner,
helped at the Religious Response Network
(RRN) booth. “RRN is a group of about a
dozen congregations in town that try to give
a voice of reason when there’s a hate crime,
a piece of legislation, anything like that,”
she said. Robertson is also a member of
Soromundi, Eugene’s women’s choir, which
is celebrating its 20th year. (Want to join?
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‘I’m hugging and kissing my sweetie,
so I’m having a great time!’
— Kelly Windhaven
performed in a newly designed stage area.
“We tried out a new stage that everyone
liked a lot — we put the tables closer to the
grass so that people could dance on the grass
instead of on the dirt,” said Jer Megowan,
Pride Festival Coordinator. He added that
festival-goers appreciated the new dance area
and a wider variety of food vendors.
“I think it’s great that [Eugene] has Pride
so that everyone in the community and outside
areas can pull together and then do this versus
having to travel all the way to Portland,” said
Robert Lemaster, who actually came down
from Portland for the event.
Entertainers included Joshua Klipp of San
Francisco; Nicole Sangsuree, long a standout
at the UO and now living in Portland; Mr.
JoyBoy; and Spin Cycle Squares of Eugene.
Klipp’s back-up dancers were a perfect
complement to his sunglasses- and baseball
cap-clad cuteness. Spin Cycle Squares got the
audience up and dancing.
“It’s nice — it’s not overly political,”
said Lemaster’s friend Tim Thatstowl, who
has lived in Eugene for almost 20 years. This
year was his fi rst visit to the Pride Festival.
“There are booths set up that have different
information on what these organizations are
doing, and there’s some stuff going on that I
Check out www.soromundi.org and attend
rehearsals in early September.)
Club Pynk’s Pride White Party took place
later at John Henry’s. Hundreds of revelers,
many wearing mostly white, danced the night
away and enjoyed performances by Mills, the
Club Pynk Go-Go Dancers and others. One
poor lad lamented the predominantly female
crowd: “There are so many lesbians here! But
where are all the gay men?”
So why is the Eugene/Springfi eld
celebration so late in the summer?
According to Megowan, the traditional
late June Pride weekend observed by most
other celebrations around the world too
often risks rainy weather here. He added
that the planning committee doesn’t want
to compete with other summer events
like Art and the Vineyard and the Oregon
Country Fair. Pride has been taking place
during the second weekend of August for
the past four years.
“We’re always looking for volunteers to
help us plan the event,” Megowan said. The
committee was short-handed this year, he
added, and said that the committee welcomes
new members, who can fi nd out more and
sign up at www.eugenepride.org (meetings
begin in September for next year’s fest). ew
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EUGENE WEEKLY AUGUST 14, 2008 13