Back in 2001 the current
Manchester Pride was called Manchester Gayfest.
What a fantastic
weekend, it all kicked off at 2pm with a colourful parade through the city
centre. Cruze 101 won the best overall float with their Jungle theme, best indervidual float went to Manchester Showbar. The
Mr Gay UK boys got my vote,
15 hunky boys dressed in only their pants!
All the bars along
Canal Street
were packed; out on the street itself there was a great atmosphere as people
soaked up the glorious sunshine that the day brought. There were also many
straight people venturing in to the area to checkout what was happening.
Manchester's street parade is
probably the best in Britain.
Most organisations usually lay on a colourful float dotted with sexy boys
and drag acts. This year we, along with a couple of drag queens from
Heaven,
were working for BMW, promoting the re-launch of their new
Mini. The car was
dressed up in specially made leather harness to add a bit of spice to its look.
After the parade
we changed into four red devils, promoting the energy drink
Red Devil. They
were one of the main sponsors of the
Mr Gay UK competition, so later in the
evening we opened the show with a dance act and presented the £1,000 cheque to
the winner. It was a busy day but great fun.
The official
Gayfest party on Saturday night was
University Challenge. 8 club nights came
together (Heaven, Crash, Fruit Machine, Fibre,
Salvation,
Trade, Housework and Sinergy) to produce an amazing one-stop party in the Student Union. We were the
gogo boys working in the main room, so we clad into our speedos and danced our
heads off. Wow what a fantastic night!!
Sunday was just as
busy with many events in the evening to get around and see. We started off in
Essential, which was busy as always after a few drinks on Canal Street. At around midnight we moved
onto the official Gayfest event, which was held at
The Print Works, renamed
"Pinkworks" for the night. It’s a complex in central Manchester
that’s home to the Hard Rock Café, a multiplex cinema, Tiger-Tiger, and many
other such trendy bars and clubs, they all combined together to create a
fantastic party environment with 20 bars, 15 dance floors and 25 top DJ's.
There was also a main stage, which hosted some good performances from
Jason
Donavan, Rozalla and
Nicki French, to name a few. This all finished at 4am when
we ventured back to Essential and later Paradise Factory for the 'Final Blow
Out'.
For info on the current annual Manchester Pride log onto:
ManchesterPride.com
