Hooray for Pride!!!

Ken and I have volunteered for the Utah Pride Festival for three years. This year, my friend asked me if I would be willing to be the team leader of ticket sales before the parade. Of course i said Yes!!! What a great time. We started meetings (every other week) in March with last night being our last one. The Festival ran Saturday June 5th and Sunday June 6th.

Ken and I sell tickets on a parade float before the actual event starts on Sunday. Ken drives the truck and guards all the money (no small task. It is A LOT of money), while I work with the volunteers on the float to make sure they have enough tickets and clean totes to stash their money. We make a pretty good team. We didn't have any problems getting through crowd either. Of course, when a crowd sees a pregnant woman coming at them with a big truck following they pretty much move out of the way.

At the meeting last night, we got a few details that blew me away! We sold about 5000 tickets off our float in 3 hours. It is the most we have ever sold off the float since we have been part of it. The festival sold 25000 tickets!!! that isn't counting any children because kids under 12 are free! The attendance alone was enough to cover the budget for the event.

Other details: 85 parade entries - that's right 85 floats!
260 runners in the 5k race the night before
120 exhibitors inside the festival
15 food vendors (not counting the vodka garden and bear stands)
4 different stages had entertainment non stop!
800 + volunteers

It is amazing how much goes into this festival every year. The festival is HUGE and gets bigger every year. Last year it rained but they still had the best year to date. This year almost doubled it!

I am just in awe at how well the event is planned and attended. It is amazing to me that there are this many people that will support the festival and the cause and yet they still cannot get equal rights. This is a different topic for a different day though. I won't get political.

I am proud to be part of the Utah Pride festival. I have already informed them that we will be part of the festival next year too! Anyone want to babysit the first weekend in June next year??