Gay Fest 2000 Page 1 of 2

What a fantastic weekend. As always Manchester laid on another Bank-Holiday, action-packed few days of fun. This year (2000) and from now on its called `Gay Fest`, instead of Mardi Gras. The whole event is there to celebrate being gay and raise loads of money for charity. It's always been the case until last year the money mysteriously failed to materialise, despite being the busiest year ever. This year's new committee was made up of 11 volunteers and headed by a chap called Brian Shaw. They took over to organise the event and have promised to raise the much needed charity funds.

It didn't seem as busy as previous years but was just as fun. The weather was partly to blame, certainly not encouraging attendance levels. There was no main stage, which disappointed many people, but must have brought the overall cost down considerably. Because the wrist-band idea had been scrapped there were many more straight people venturing onto Canal Street (the gay village). Which is both a good and bad thing depending on how you look at it. The bars were all packed both inside and out, making it hard to move but great for talent spotting. Like all gay events it's a place to catch up and bump into friends you haven't done for ages. The atmosphere was buzzing and the alcohol was flowing. The evening parties carried it all on into the early hours of the following morning. Click here to see the pix.

Here are some photos of the Parade that took place on the Saturday. We were on the Manto float, which included a tank and people carrier on hire from the army. Click the thumbnails to see them in full...

Click `next` to continue and see pix from inside the clubs...