Pride 2012. Photograph by Thomas Crone
From a purely personal, unconnected, non-stakeholder standpoint, the recent announcement that Pride St. Louis would be moving their base of operations from Tower Grove Park to Downtown was something of a bummer. And that’s because there’s nothing better than walking less than two blocks to see what’s the most-colorful parade in St. Louis. Since moving to Tower Grove Park, it’s pretty much been the best weekend in the neighborhood for the entire year, with a lot of energy brought to the South Grand neighborhood by people from all over the Midwest.
Pride’s moved before, though; more than once, in fact. And this year, it’ll be shifting the public events to Downtown, on the final weekend of June. In response to this news, an activist from South City, Angelo Olegna, has been rallying the idea of an event that’ll take place the same weekend as the traditional Pride event in town. One meeting’s been held, a board is coming together, a non-profit status is being sought and the date’s already set: June 29.
To this point, Olegna, 27, has been alerting interested parties to the effort via the Facebook page Keep Pride in Tower Grove. As name might suggest, the earliest thoughts were to find a way to convince the Pride board to rethink their move. But the mission quickly shifted. We’ll let Olegna take up the story from there.
On Sunday, we caught up to him at the Mud House in Cherokee, where he discussed the project, the energy behind it and the ideals that he hopes will create a second Pride event. One, he feels, that will have less of a corporate feel and more of a grassroots vibe.
UPDATE: stlmag.com received a rebuttal to this Q&A from Pride St. Louis, Inc. on January 25. Read that here.
From my understanding the decision to move Pride to Downtown was undertaken at their board level.
It was. There was no real community outreach, or attempts to have a town hall meeting before they made their decision. No one talked to the small businesses along Grand directly. The Parks department people that I’ve talked to said that the issues that were brought up about Tower Grove Park being the reason why they’re moving weren’t really problems. People say they’d heard rumors that the board members had talked for a few years that they’d like to move Downtown, but usually that stuff had gotten shut down by the community. There are pros and cons to any decision. But I don’t think they expected that there was ever going to be organized opposition. And they didn’t do much to prepare people for the decision.
To your mind, what were the things that made it work on South Grand?
One, there’s population. About 100,000 live very close, in the various neighborhoods. It’s a long park and has population density all around it. It’s got a hub of gay businesses, already, along with gay residents and pro-gray businesses and residents. It’s where a lot of us live and where our friends live. It’s very much a community. There’s no giant tower, no strip malls. It’s all about funky small businesses and it’s been a home to the gay community for years. We were a part of the development of the community. There’s been a symbiotic relationship with the park itself. It’s such a beautiful park. It’s unique among Prides all around the country to have a park that’s this historic and beautiful. In the middle of summer, all of those giant trees help, as do the gazebos. So you go there, then go to a friend’s house to cool off, or a local business to cool off. You do that at the site the entire weekend. I think that’s why it’s worked so well.
It’s only a part of Pride, but a very visible one. Why did the parade work well on Grand?
It’s amazing when you go down a street that’s inhabited. People are waving and hanging out of their windows. You go the street and people are crammed along the sidewalk. It’s just such a community expression. It’s a populated area, and one that’s already bustling with activity and you can feel that.
You’ve mentioned an element of surprise, regarding the Pride board’s reading of your efforts.
You can tell with the multiple letters they’ve posted to their website. They’ve freaked out about it. I put up a Facebook page within the first day of the announcement and within three days we had 400 people like it. It’s gotten a lot of attention. They’ve issued letters saying that they were forced to leave the park; I see that as a sense of them not being able to defend their position. I don’t accept what they’ve said as the real reasons they’ve moved. They feel Downtown is more central, more visible. We went to their board meeting after the announcement, and based on what was said, and their behavior, I just think that they’re not used to having so much public critique and input, in general.
At this point, you’re proposing to have, for lack of a better term, a shadow or alternative event?
I wouldn’t even say shadow. We’re saying that Pride is continuing along Grand, but under new management. Our last organizational meeting, which was also our first organizational meeting, was put together in less than a week and we had 30 people, which is a lot for a community meeting. The park is willing to give us space, at two pavilions. Our Pride is definitely going to be different. And I’d like to think of it as complementary. It started out as a protest, but it’s not something that we’re just doing, it’s an expression of the gay community. We’re going to have local music, local artists and crafters, local fun. We may even have our own participatory parade. We don’t want to copy what they’re doing, but do our own thing under the Pride banner. Lots of cities have multiple Pride events going on at the same time, like in San Francisco and Chicago. So that’s not unheard of. But it’s going to be beneficial to the neighborhood business districts like Grand and Morganford, even Manchester and Cherokee. We’ve not such a shabby band. I’m the promotional manager at City Diner and have operated a small business with a partner, Cranky Yellow, on Cherokee. We’ve got people who’ve worked in government, with small businesses and schools. We’re people who want something done and will do it. It’s going to get done. We’re going to have a Pride event in Tower Grove, I know that. I have so much love for my community and for the city, that I don’t want to choose being gay or being for my neighborhood; they aren’t mutually exclusive. I think you can support both efforts at the same time.
Is there any type of national organization that okays the use of the term “Pride” and how it can be used for events?
No. This is an old Pride. St. Louis has been a very progressive city and has been for a long time. Pride began here in the ‘80s, which was still not the friendliest time. But Pride’s been important in this city. It’s changed hands and changed to different parts of the city. It’s no monolithic thing. It’s time for my generation to take ownership of Pride and do it our way.
So your event will take place...
The Saturday of the traditional Pride weekend, the last Saturday in June. The aim is to be a one-day thing. And their parade will be on Sunday, so you can do both. No one has to take sides. There are no sides to take. I’d like to think we can have a city-wide Pride, with South Grand, Downtown and Manchester, which has always had events at night. Coincidentally enough, that would make one big triangle.
How about next steps or meetings?
We’re forming our own non-profit. We have lawyers supporting us for free, which is very nice of them. We’ll have our first event on the last Sunday of February, which is going to be a beach party flash mob at the Botanical Gardens. Everyone will dress up in swimming suits, beach clothes, summer clothes and we’ll be in the Climatron, the only place in St. Louis that’s 85 degrees that day. I did that last year as a separate event and it went very well. The week before, the third Sunday of February, we’ll have an organizational meeting at Mangia. We’d like volunteers, even if it’s just to spread the word. We want to keep things affordable, try to keep booths cheap, since a lot of people have been priced out of previous Prides. We’re putting all that stuff onto our Facebook page; we’re always adding new things.
