Just a sampling of some activities that are going on in the Twin Cities during Pride weekend:

  • Blue-eyed soul/rocker Tina Schieske headlines tonight’s Bryant-Lake Bowl Pride Block Party.  Other acts include Venus DeMars & All The Pretty Horses, Black Blondie, Dykes Do Drag, and Foxy Tann.  Expect beer, locally produced food and a flea market.  Part of the proceeds go to OutFront Minnesota.
  • Queertopia, now in its third year, is a caberet night by Outward Spiral Theatre featuring nine acts from multiple disciplines at Intermedia Arts.  Expect a little bit of everything including break dancing, spoken word, ballet, a drag king, a youth theatre group and even a hula troupe.
  • Miss City of the Lakes drag pageant will be held tonight at the Gay 90’s in the La Femme room.
  • The Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus has two concerts, today and Saturday, called, “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.”
  • The Minnesota GLBTA Campus Alliance (the A stands for Allies) presents its first Pride Revue at the Whitney Fine Arts Center.
  • An alcohol-free party, The Fruit Bowl, is being held at Elsie’s in Northeast Minneapolis.  The Rainbow Health Initiative and Tobacco-free Lavender Communities of Minnesota are behind the party.
  • On Saturday, the headliner for this year’s official Pride Festival in Loring Park is En Vogue, the female quartet that dominated R&B in the early 1990s.  One of its signature songs, “Free Your Mind,” is this year’s Pride slogan.
  • The Village People will play at the second annual Splash Bash at Trocaderos.
  • A Leather Pride event will be held at Innuendo in St. Paul on Saturday.
  • The mammoth Pride Parade will be held on Sunday.  Last year, it attracted 125,000 spectators.

I wish I could attend this year’s Pride events in the Twin Cities.  However, my spouse and I are going to his home town, a three-hour drive away, to attend his 40th high school class reunion.  My workplace is hosting its first booth at the Pride Festival this year, and I would have volunteered for a shift had I been here this weekend.  Next year for sure!