Plans are well underway for Brighton Pride 2014! Once again, they have upped the stakes and aim to deliver an even bigger, brighter, better festival than ever before! The organisation’s Managing Director Paul Kemp shares the essential facts…
Brighton Pride has always been a team effort and after the brilliant success of last year’s event that raised over £43,000 for charity, the pressure this year is really on to come up with something even bigger and better, and I’m confident we are going to do just that.
Everyone knows and loves our Community Pride Parade and festival in Preston Park, and this year we are building a whole host of supporting events that will spread the LGBT love across many weeks.
For the second year we are having a Pride Arts & Film Festival running over two weeks from July 18th and featuring a diverse selection of art, photography, spoken word and celluloid exhibitions and entertainment. 2014 also sees the return of the hugely popular Pride Dog Show on Sunday 20th July at Hove RFC where we celebrate our 4-legged friends with various Kennel Club judged categories, a doggy catwalk and a whole host of barking frolics hosted by scene darling Miss Jason.
Just a week later on Sunday 27th July is the inaugural Pride Rainbow Run in Preston Park where participants get to sprint, jog or mince their way around a 5K circuit picking up extra items to accessorise their outfits on the way. Think leg warmers and ill-fitting lycra and you won’t be far off the mark, but with the entries pouring in it is set to be quite a spectacle and is raising much needed donations for the Rainbow Fund, our official charity.
On Pride day itself, what sets us aside from other city centre Prides are the spectacular setting of the Pride festival. After parading right along the seafront and through the centre of Brighton for hundreds of thousands of spectators, Preston Park is a huge sprawling green expanse that can hold up to 60,000 people making it the biggest gay Pride festival in the UK. We will release more details of exactly what is on the park nearer the time, but after its huge success, the Main Stage is back and we have some top names already confirmed including boy band Blue, Peyton and disco and house legend Martha Wash.
This year also sees the return of a Men’s Tent and bears area, a supersized Wild Fruit Dance big top with open access, the Calabash tent and the ever popular Legends Cabaret Tent. We also have a brand new area this year with the Gaydar Q Alternative Music Stage with headliners Republica, Lucy Spraggan and many more.
• Brighton & Hove Pride is on Saturday 2nd August. More information of what’s on offer and to sign up to the newsletter, go to brighton-pride.org
• Early bird tickets have sold out, so grab your £15 advance ticket before the end of May.
