P.O. Box 4959 * Fresno, CA 93744 * (559) 266-LINK info@communitylinkfresno.com
The 20th Annual Central Valley & Fresno's GLBT Pride Parade and Festival will take place on SATURDAY, June 4th 2011 in the Tower District between 10am and 3pm.
Latest News
Please download our 2011 Sponsor Packet, which contains Sponsor Levels explanation, Important Deadlines and Sponsorship Agreement.
The file is in .pdf format. If you don't have Adobe Reader, you can download it here.
You can make a Sponsor Donation via mail-in check or via PayPal button below.
PLATINUM $10,000
GOLD $5,000
SILVER $4,000
PURPLE $3,000
BLUE $2,000
GREEN $1,500
YELLOW $1,000
ORANGE $500
RED $250
Download the Sponsor packet for more detail!
Dear Pride
Partner!
If you haven't seen the “Jack in the Box” television commercial where he falls
down the stairs as he is filming his own commercial, gets up and says “I can't
wait for this recession to be over!” Well we can't either!
I would have liked to have told you about all the really great plans we have
for the 21st Fresno Pride Parade and skipped all the pleas for your financial
help. Well, since the recession hasn't yet come to an end in the Valley, we
like everyone else are still feeling the pain.
Before I get into what our needs are I would like to start with some positive
stuff.
First off the Pride Parade is no longer a 10 minute procession. 10 minutes was
the actual amount of time it took for the first parade participants to
literally jog down Olive Avenue in 1991. Gone also are the hateful Klan members
that showed up for the first three years of the pride parades to protest.
The Pride Celebration has grown into the largest one-day Gay event in the San
Joaquin Valley. The parade has increased in size, variety and in quality. The
parade is now an hour and a half of enjoyable fun and amazement. With up to 75
entries, from marchers to motorcycles to floats all transversing the parade
route in a flood of rainbow colors. Other than Fresno City's Veteran's Day and
Children's Christmas Parades, the Pride Parade is the third largest in the
city, but by far the most festive and fun.
The Pride Festival in 1991 was small, but extremely successful for the
nineties, the attendance was in the hundreds. In 2010 it drew a crowd close to
3,000. 2011 will likely see 3,000 plus people attending the festival with close
to 100 booths serving up food, merchandise, information, and fun.
Some of the features we are proud to announce is Unison, our Dance Pavilion for
the younger of heart, body, and soul. The Entrainment Pavilion will feature
musical sensation Dario, who will thrill the crowd along with many other GLBT
acts. Kids like Us will be hosting the children's area featuring all kinds of
fun for the kiddies. Plus there will be an adult area for a different kind of
fun. The Pride festival will have something for everyone.
As we have grown and improved the quality of Fresno's Pride event, we have also
grown the visibility of our community. Here are a couple examples of this
increased awareness of our local GLBT community.
VIA, AAA's travel magazine, for the first time considered including us in their
May/June Issue. While we didn't make it in VIA this year, we probably will next
year. Just being approached was a huge milestone.
We have also caught the attention of several big GLBT organizations. The Human
Rights Campaign was the first vender application we received this year. Plus
The AIDS Life Cycle, who is hosting their annual ride the same weekend as
Pride, has decided to place an advertisement in the Pride Program.
Bigger still is that we have been in negotiations with the Speaker of the
California Assembly, John Perez, to be an honorary Grand Marshal and key note
speaker. This may or may not happen depending on what the status is with the
California budget. But the GLBT Legislative Caucus has indicated that they are
interested in coming down. Plus they are putting pressure on our local elected
officials in the State Senate and Assembly to be participants in this year's
Pride Celebration. A FIRST should this happen.
I have been telling you of all the exciting possibilities that could be this
year, that might happen, and that we are extremely thrilled about. Now some of
these may not happen, plans can go south and we will be disappointed if they
don't materialize, but the fact that we are firmly on folks' radar is amazing.
I am tired of singing the fundraising blues, but it is a tune I must turn to
next.
We need to raise $15,000 by Saturday, June 4th. A much larger sum than last
year. The Pride event costs roughly $35,000 to put on. We are mostly there but
not quite where we need to be.
I have to tell you Fresno Rainbow Pride is very frugal, we are considered to be
tight wads, or out right cheap skates. We make Team Pride's money stretch.
Fresno Rainbow Pride is always hunting for a deal on services and equipment.
But the costs for insurance, city and county permits, state licensing fees,
fencing, staging, canopies, electrical generators, security guards, volunteer
supplies, sound systems, entertainers, port-a-potties, hand washing stations,
street barricades, the hanging of the pride street banners and other
promotional/publicity materials and the printing of the Pride Program continue
to cost more and more.
We skimp where we can, but most of the budget is a must “Have” to put on the
event. We are obligated to maintain certain levels of services or items by the
city, county, state, such as insurance, security, barricades, etc and by our
contractual agreements with our sponsors, such as the pride program,
advertising, t-shirts, etc.
We have always given our sponsors their money's worth. We have not received any
complaints or attitude that Fresno Rainbow Pride is not a quality product. But
the sad fact is that business has been bad for the past 3 years and our
sponsors do not have the discretionary funds they once had several years ago.
We have seen major cut backs in funding and have been asked by several sponsors
to be patient, but that the their sponsorships will not be available until
closer to the event.
Nationally, cross the board charitable donations are down 28% whether you are a
GLBT organization, or church, hospital, or other main stream worthy cause. We
really need your help. This is our time of need. Will you be our hero with a
donation to keep pride alive?
Every donation counts, including your donations of time. If you can not help us
financially maybe you could volunteer your time by joining the Pride Team at
our weekly meetings or if meetings are not your thing, be a volunteer the day
of the event.
We are also asking that you support our fundraising efforts at the clubs, we
already have fundraisers planned at the North Tower Circle and Swiggs Sports
Bar. Tacos Marquitos is doing two days of Dining with Pride and the Fresno GLBT
Youth Alliance will be doing a car wash for Pride on Sunday, May 8th. Check out
our website www.FresnoRainbowPride.com for the latest information on all of our
upcoming fundraisers.
Finally, another great way of supporting the 2011 Fresno Rainbow Pride Parade
and Festival is to spread the word. Share, forward, copy, or fax this letter to
your family and friends. And don't forget to attend our 21st anniversary of
pride on Saturday, June 4, 2011.
Please make your donation payable to Community Link.
Send your check to: Community Link's Fresno Rainbow Pride, P.O. Box 4959,
Fresno, Ca. 93744
Or you may make a PayPal donation directly on our website at
www.fresnorainbowpride.com
Thank you,
Jeffery Robinson
Fresno Rainbow Pride Coordinator