I signed up to volunteer for the Phoenix Pride event. The director failed to communicate essential information, prior to and during the event. I emailed and walked 3.8 miles looking for the event Information booth. I did not see a tent set up that said information on it anywhere. The director did not apologize for not getting the information, nor did they ever give the information, showing a lack of professionalism and respect for me. A simple response such as, Oh, sorry, meet me here, and we can go over the details. Or they could have copied and pasted from another email the information. No, they simply said I was busy, didn't have time, check my signature line. Which does not have the information in it. I sent screenshots showing them this as well. Their inability to communicate, act in a professional manner, treat volunteers with respect, apologize for mistakes, and take accountability for their actions has led me to no longer support this organization. Nor will I recommend it to anyone moving forward. read more

The Phoenix Gay Pride Parade is a blast! Whether you are straight or not, there is no way you cannot have fun. My company is a sponsor, so two hundred and fifty of us led the pack up Third Street. There were balloons, noise makers, cow bells (yes, we needed more cow bells), rainbow colored beach balls and a lot a happy, smiling spectators along the route. There were fire trucks and dancers and a festive party atmosphere. So consider coming out next year (no pun) and enjoy the fun. Peace! read more

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What a disappointment unfortunately. We were there to represent our company which is a large telecommunications company in the area. Our company was very disorganized and weak in our float representation. There appear to be no hierarchy 4 people putting on this March. There was only one Porta-Potty along the way that we found and that was overflowing disgusting and had no toilet paper. The women were forced to find a business nearby and use those toilets which often had a 20 to 30 minute wait. I think if you're going to provide a space 4 an event of this magnitude it could have better accommodations such as bathrooms and maybe even more shade. read more

Phoenix Pride - Party - Festivals Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

I haven't been to a Pride event for over 6 years the reason being, every bad choice that you slept with just so happens to be there. You know the walk of shame should only happen once, right?! In any case, the event was a whole lot of fun.. sort of like a giant gay bar with kids in strollers, LOL! Drinks were 5 bucks which was cool and there were plenty of friends to hang out with. Very cool things, hats off to the organizers.. 1. $5 bucks for drinks, awesome! 2. Diverse selection of things to eat.. hehe.. 3. Great entertainment 4. Overall size was great, far larger than 6 years ago Of course I have a few complaints for the organizers.. 1. If you're going to ban "professional" camera equipment, you need to tell everyone that before hand, not at the gate after they've parked a mile away! 2. Need to hire a janitorial service to maintain the port-a-potties and hand washing stations.. later in the afternoon there was no water and no soap, gross. What was even more disgusting were the bloody fucking tampons thrown on the floor of the potties.. I know that's not your fault, however someone constantly maintaining and cleaning the stalls would have been awesome! 3. Not enough shade.. more hang out tents would have been awesome.. even with sunblock I got roasted.. the few shade trees that were there I felt like an Emperor Penguin, packed body to body, constantly rotating in and out of the shade with the attempt to stay cool rather than warm. Kudos to the organizers and all of the sponsors, a job well done! read more

Phoenix Pride - Festivals Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

First Phoenix Pride attendance. Honestly, it was super lame. Overpriced drinks, overpriced food, poor performances, not near as entertaining as I thought it would be. Try harder.. Biggest rip off event I've ever been to. read more

We have our various opinions of how Gay Pride should be operated. Best part is I'm sure you can volunteer to be on variety's of different gay pride communities. Being said we give one thumbs up and one thumbs down for the insane drink prices after a high cover charge and parking fee. Two thumbs up for the absolute cool volunteers and workers of this event. Fabulous!! read more

Can I tell you how fun Sat was? I got the pleasure to walk in Phoenix Pride Parade with Cox Communications, Cox is a great company that supports the Human Rights Campaign and diversity in the workplace. The parade started lil after 10am along 3rd St from Thomas to Indian School Rd. It was great seeing the many companies that where in the parade as well, US Airways was in the house, Starbucks was handing out Ice Coffee or Ice Tea to workers, Macys, Chipotle, couple of high school marching bands and some valley churches and much more. It was just great seeing everyone walking in the parade and just showing support! Now as for the parade watchers on the sides of the street, man what a very conservative crowd, it was like they were frightened to clap, laugh or yell, and I know us folks walking for Cox were having some crazy fun, but nope the crowd didnt get into it. I expected more out of the crowd dangit! After the parade we headed on into the pride festival at Steel Indian School Park and once you walk in you see couple of huge tents for shade, I can personally say I was greatful for that, took a break from walking and chilled at a table with chairs and a huge fan! Kept me nice and cool. There was many booths to check out, food trucks & booze. Alot to keep anyone entertained, for me its the drag queens! Love watching the queens!!! For those closed minded peeps, I walked in the Phoenix Pride Festival straight and walked out still straight, so I guess its not contagious, and I do have to admit there was some good looking men, but it was like being placed in a candy store with your jaw wired shut. I can look, but not touch. It was a very great time! Look forward to walking in the parade next year, just hope the crowd learns how to loosen up and cheer by then. read more

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The success of the 2010 Parade and festival speaks volumes about the dedication and hard work of the officers, managers, and volunteers of Phoenix Pride. Being able to organize and run a festival of this magnitude was a herculean task, but they pulled it off beautifully and did a great job. Kudos! read more

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After going to Pride several years in a row, I figure it's finally time to write a review. I'll try to make it concise, since there's sooooo much going on. The Good: -The Parade... mostly. Some of the walkers make you wonder "Why?" but generally they're all there for a reason. - The Camaraderie. So many of the LGBTQ community come together to celebrate our diversity. - The Entertainment. Usually the "big names" are pretty decent entertainers, even if they can be a little dated. ie. Tiffany, En Vogue, Blake Lewis, Uh Huh Her (the last 2 aren't all that dated, fyi) and most of the kings and queens who perform are the best Phoenix has to offer. Most, not all, mind you. - The Purpose. Most people don't know this but the proceeds from the festival help to fund things like the Phoenix Pride Scholarship Fund. Most of the drink stands that are run by The Men Of Charlies and other organisations benefit that organisation or charity. So it's more than just a booze fest, it's a booze fest with a purpose! The Not-So-Good: - The Heat. Yes, it's in April, but by April it's already really damn hot. Especially for the lack of shade at the festival. - The Cost. $20 for a ticket to be accosted by vendors trying to squeeze more money out of the gays seems a little steep. It's basically the same vendors every year, nothing changes. I don't think a person needs that many rubber bracelets sporting a rainbow with "Wells Fargo" on it. - The food/drinks. Same old same old, for the price of State Fair food. And there aren't that many food vendors. And VERY few options for those who are vegetarian/vegan, and considering how many of our community are vegetarian or vegan you'd think there'd be more. - The Parking. Which is ridiculous. We usually end up parking at a nearby strip club and walking a few blocks, which sucks (see Heat above). There needs to be a better parking situation. All in all it's not a bad festival, and it is actually the 4th largest Pride Festival in the country. I just wish there was more content, though they're trying really hard to put in more exhibits, like the Erotic Art and the Wedding Expo. read more

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This was a super fun event! Came out in support of friends. The parade took 3 hours and there were tons of corporations represented, as well as fun local venues. Bright colors everywhere! Tons of swag and a super fun group in our location. The United Arizona Leather Community float really put a cap on the event. From the Comicon group to Wells Fargo, Discover, and the Cheba Hut blunt, it was a really fun event. #vinosquared #vino2ultimate read more

Phoenix Pride - Festivals Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

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This year. I went to Pride. With my mom. My 74 year old, deliciously and overwhelmingly, unconditionally loving mom! Easily one of my favorite days I've ever spent with this saintly human. She was accompanied by her 60ish year old female cousin. Yep. They played lesbians! They thought they were the shit. And they were. While no tonguing occurred (thankfully, that would have been scarring), they did hold hands at one point and giggled. I've attended LA, SF, Long Beach, San Diego and NYC Prides. I have a soft spot for our little desert Mayberry Pride. I wish the walk from 3rd Ave and Indian School to the main gate wasn't such a hike. I was exhausted by the time I reached the front gate. But a perfect reason to run straight (ha ha, I said straight) to the beer stand. Beer was cold. Brats were hot. Bears were hairy. Twinks were rail ass thin. Lesbians in Wranglers. Port a potties were CLEAN but SO FREAKIN' HOT! Second best part next to being with mom and my man....NTUIT's performance. If you haven't seen this dynamo duo, you MUST get their CD! I am biased as I love them both. Oh. And I have a cameo on their last track, Celebrity Life... Pride. Proud. Budding recording artist. And yep Gay as ever! read more

Honestly, I think the best part of Pride is the Parade, and that's not just because I'm a cheap bitch. This year, it flowed very well. And there seemed to be a much smaller group of fag-bashers this year. Humf! I packed a hammer and a staple gun for nothing, apparently. As for the actual Festival, it was pretty solid. The musical talents were fierce. The various stages are awesome because they seem to have a flavor for most tastes. I especially liked Guyton Maurice. Phoenix Pride keeps getting better every year. Soon, we may have an event that rivals some of the other major Prides. read more

Last year for Pride I just attended the parade and none of the festivities at Steel Indian School Park and relative to last years parade, I have to say that 2011 didn't seem to have the color or pizzaz. But it was still entertaining none the less. This year I did go to the park. A group of 8 of us, after getting some food and a lil' boozy at Hula's light railed over to the festivities. $20 to get in was a bit pricey for what was offered inside. Ok, so once inside you could buy $5 drink tickets for beer or cocktails. That was a bit of a bonus. The erotic art area was a bit lame. But some of the performers on the 2 different stages were entertaining enough. Not to mention the drama or people watching in general. Mostly I give props to the volunteers, participants and organizers of all this. read more

Hell yeah! What is it? The Wednesday after? And I'm still recovering! The parade was glittery gorgeous fun. Fun crowd, good groups at the festival. Plus, I won a big tube of fancy German lube! I had a really good time, but it was mostly because of the people I was with, and that the last time I went was about 3 years ago. Three year intervals seem to work best for me, in order to prevent a bad case of been-there-done-that. read more

Hmm...a little late to be writing about pride...but here goes: I've been to pride several times and each time I'm left asking myself, "Why?". I mean, don't get me wrong, I love hanging with my peeps, but it just seems like a big drunken shit-show. In my best Bob Ross, I'm going to paint a picture of this event for you. We're here, parade is over and we are ready to gay it the eff up. Cool, now let me whip out my $20 to buy a ticket. Hmm, now I'm thirsty for overpriced beer-flavored water...what's that huge line for? Must be the bathrooms...oh what's that? It's to get a wristband for aforementioned beverages? Word. *20 minutes later* Sweeeeet! Got my wristband, now where's the beeeeer?! Hey man, can I get a brewski? Huh? Tickets? Nah...I have this wristband, see? Oh, there's a line to buy drink tickets? Snap" *20 minutes later* Ew hide, creepy ex-girlfriend. *5 minutes later* Ok, now what was I doing again? Beer...line...ugh, finally got my beer...let's go check out the booths. Real estate and sunglasses...so I can shade my eyes as I buy a house from you. Oh wait, there's one cool booth! Thanks Fascinations for the free lube and gift card:) Not the whole deal, but you get my gist. read more

This has so much potential. This year the CC machines were not working which in turned caused crazy lines at the atms. Always have a back up plan. Second. The cost to get in. I have been to several prides and most ask for donations not charge to get in. The VIP section is pretty much a joke. All you get is one tent with one bar (no atm inside). Bathrooms are the best part out it. read more

Well done! Such a fun weekend. So much to see and do, such great weather, so many great performances, well organized, lots of great volunteers, and a fun celebration of the diverse and dynamic gay community in Phoenix. (I even got to be in the parade!) Phoenix Pride kicks off the summer months of pride festivals for me, and this was a great way to start. 2010 Phoenix Pride was a total success. Can't wait for next year! read more

The wife and I had the opportunity to go to phx pride this year. It was my first time to venture to pride and I was pleasantly surprised. We went Saturday and it was so awesome to see so many ppl straight & lgbtq community coming together. The alcohol tix were 6$ each and we spent a pretty penny getting drunk lol. The vendors were pretty neat and took home a lot of neat stuff, shirts included. It would have be awesome to have more live music from famous ppl but it's all good. Over all fun experience and great atmosphere read more

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Had a great time! Came with the family to show some love and support and we had a blast. Everyone was so nice to my daughter, the crowd was lively and the weather couldn't be beat! Definitely head out and spend some time at Phx Pride. Great community gathering. :) read more

This was my first Phoenix Pride. I had attended a smaller Flagstaff Pride a few years ago. My first impression on Saturday was that the crowd was not indicative of the gay community I am familiar with. I have family and dear friends who are gay and NONE of them wear speedos in public, duct tape pasties in the open air, or leathers and S&M gear in the hot summer sun. There was a mass of freaks at this event and while I do love me a good freak show, I was a little disappointed in the underaged, drunken, fool-hardy boneheads that came out in droves on Saturday. Sunday was MUCH more enjoyable and I cant imagine the undertaking festival organizers must assume to put this event on! STRONG SUITS: Maps, friendly volunteers, food, booze, loads of variety entertainment, shade tents, Shiny Toy Guns, Lynda Carter, people treating one another with kindness and respect, police on hand to keep it safe, the sunsets, the Janet Jackson group, Darg Queens (wish they were friendlier- some of em are so snubby!). DETRACTORS some of which are out of anyone's control: The heat, THE DUST!!!, drunk kids acting like idiots, the distance to walk from any parking to main gate, the lack of signage to show you where to go to get from one point to another, practically having to perform a high wire act with an elephant on your head just to get a beer, stopping beer sales while Shiny Toy Guns is on stage, the sound quality in Erotic World, the portapotties being disgusting and out of soap and water, no lighting at/near portapotties at night, only one entrance/exit on a huuuuuge festival lot, the litter. My party and I had a grand time and I am sure we will be back although $20 is steep but then again, I can only imagine the overhead on something like this. read more

Well organized, affordable, easy to navigate, great entertainment, and a multitude of fun activities. There was an impressive amount of diversity, when it came to entertainment - a tent with lesbian folk singers, the main stage which included TIFFANY... OMG OMG TIFFANY, 2 big huge dance tents with some impressive DJ's, and much more. While the festival has all the features of a big city pride festival, it also had a bit of an intimate, smaller city feel. The beer prices were surprisingly awesome! $5 per drink, with a variety to choose from, including Widmer, and Landshark! Woo! read more

I love going to pride, but Phoenix really needs to consider 1) getting better artists to play the music aspect of it, because almost every year its not very good! The best was when pride had joan jett and berlin, every other year after that it has pretty much sucked....not worth staying for. For that reason and for the #2 reason...WHHHHYYYY HAVE PRIDE THE 3RD WEEKEND OF APRIL!!! its always hotter than hell and its just ridiculous to have it that weekend! its the same every freakin year only this year on saturday it hit like 105!!! is usually 98-99!!! walking around in that big ass dusty park for hours on end because HELLO WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SHOWING OUR PRIDE! lol....they need to consider having in MARCH! when the weather is still nice and people aren't dying from the heat! The crowd numbers would triple I think if they had they festival in March because everyone knows its cooler in March :-) read more

Phoenix Pride has swollen in size and gets bigger every year. I first went in 2002, and most recently went in 2009. Typically most cities host Pride in June, though for obvious reasons Phoenix rings in the Pride season in early April. The selection in vendors and dining, and the volume of people attending grows every year. I got to Pride over an hour late (from the parade start time) and got to 3rd Street to see a significant number of floats still on the parade route, meaning the opening parade is over an hour long. One downside is the entrance line. I would recommend purchasing tickets in advance, as you will avoid waiting behind all the other procrastinators to buy tickets, and waiting again to get into the main festival. The whole event used to be only on a Saturday, but has since expanded to the whole weekend. A good majority of Steele Indian Park is filled with party-goers. I look forward to seeing it grow and develop more in the future, as Phoenix' gay population, who like most everyone else here is a transplant from elsewhere, forms stronger bonds and a stronger sense of "community," helping the city to coalesce into shared living space and culture. read more

Phoenix Pride is such an eclectic experience. Was this the prettiest Pride around? No! Can Phoenix Pride be super fun though? Yes! I have had two different experiences here. In 2010, I consumed some 6 or so drinks. This combined with the dehydrating heat made me a little sloppy, so I don't remember any of the less than pleasant aspects of this Pride Festival. In 2011, I was sober the whole time and thus, here are my recollections. Tips: Buy a ticket beforehand. There will be a long line to buy one there and you will pay 5 bucks more. Make sure you have cash. Once you wait to get in (you still wait if you have pre-purchased a ticket), you will need to wait in another line to get an ID badge that says you are 21. Then you can wait again to buy drink tickets (5 bucks each...a pretty solid deal) and THEN you can wait in another line to actually get your drink. This place has more lines than Disney World. Some of the booths were interesting. Yelp even had a booth manned by the most stereotypical lesbian I have seen in a while. Was she hired out for the event? (I remember Progressive did this last year). Back to the event. The dance pavilion was once again filled with the twinkeist of twinks groove shaking while the real hotties trotted around in packs showing off their marble cut physiques while big sunglasses hid their butta faces. The various flocks of lesbians clustered around the food booths. Phoenix Pride is full of extensive people watching potential, but the eye candy was few and far between. I guess that's why it is so crucial to be smashed. read more

After years of reading reviews, here is my first Yelp review EVER! My bf and I went to Pride today and had a great time! Good food and drink! There were so many great people there and we made a bunch of new friends. The only off-putting things about Pride were some of the militant types that were there. We want to be treated like everybody else, but we should be more about love and harmony. The other thing is, do we REALLY need the erotic world thing there? Many people brought their kids and it just didn't seem appropriate in a public park. The straight world thinks that we all about nothing but sex. We are not doing anything to dispel that thinking by having this at Pride. But still, a good time was had by all. Regardless of your sexual orientation, you should visit the festival, but maybe without the kids. Oh yes, one more thing. Wilson Phillips is the best that you could do Phx Pride? Consider Maroon 5 for next year. I'll pay extra for admission for them. read more

Well I did not think I would like the shows but, I have to say that the dancers this year were SPECTACULAR, the singers were in sink and full on divas. The costumes and makeup were amazing. I watched the whole thing from beginning to end and I never do this, usaually too bored and like to move around to different venues.I am a field reporter from The Newtimes and I didn't want to go it seemed like it would be the same as it is every year ... loud, hot, and no where to pee. I was wrong. I rather enjoyed most all of the preformances, songs, singers, costumes, and even the makeup. While observing this event, I saw a small group of people in all black, at first I was like why would all these people be in all black don't they know they are in Sunny Arizona? Later, I found out they were makeup artists from Eyezthatsparkle and Co. Again, I must admit I was all wrong, I was very impressed because I never saw them sit down and I was there 4 hours at least. All I can say is the makeup was noticeable from the distance I was at and in the past few years I attended, you could barely see the dancers much less what they were wearing on the body and the costumes were boring, Not this year! I had asked that same lady where she was from, and if they infact were the makeup team for the event ,she seemed very joyed to be there. After speaking with her I got her business card, and she told me she didn't want any credit, but she would rather I credit her students who made it all possible. Students from her makeup school are Alex Garcia, and Freddy Figueroa and their friend Nancy. This is not my official post in print, it's just a review on what mainly stood out Saturday. First of all, the food was terrible, weather was great, people were well- mannered, and entertainment was a 5 star from organization, leadership, taste in music, clothing, makeup, hair, and well choreographed. I wanted to talk to who actually organized this event all the lady knew were two of the event planners names which are Carlos and Weezy. I would like to say to them you did a fantastic job.I will be interviewing more people and their thoughts on this event. My hats go off to everyone who kept the peace, didn't get out of hand with gay bashing, and how very entertaining this venue was this year. It's nice to see Arizona finally show casing some real talent to the highest level possible. read more

I can say after having attended Phoenix Pride for many years, the planning and quality of the Pride event have really dropped off. Phoenix Pride really seemed to be growing before the current Director took over in 2013. Linda Hoffman busted her butt making sure that Pride was a fun and inclusive event for all. She took the suggestions from attendees and incorporated these into the production event each year, and always added something new and exciting to look forward to. Last year, in 2014, so much was cut back. Where was the antique car show? Where were the bungee rides and the bull riding that was always such a part of the fun, or the floating balls on the lake? All gone. The last years of Linda's directorship, people had asked repeatedly for more shade, and there were huge tents all over the park, some with huge fans in them. Gone. Top-notch performances for the entertainment have been replaced with second and third tier acts. And going up on the price of beer to $6? Why? Don't these people making these decisions realize that it is much easier to pay $5 for a drink than it is to break a $10 bill. And whose bright idea was it to more the Pride Parade to Sunday? That was a poor move, as the past couple of years attendance has been down, and that is to be expected because of several factors, namely that there are many parties on Saturday night and many people are hung over on Sunday morning. Not only that, other folks have to go to church, or just plan for the work week ahead. The Parade was like the opening ceremony of the Pride event when held on Saturday, and the enthusiasm and anticipation would run high. We would have notable people from other places who served as Grand Marshall, and now we are down to our local drag queens? No offense, but it seems we could at least have a highly noted persona for Grand Marshall. And here, 2016, if anyone had bothered to look, the pride website, at least up until the middle of March, was missing much information. A complete listing or performers was not available until mid month. The "10 Days of Pride" wasn't, until just the last week or so. And the broken links on the website caused some people who might have come to Pride Phoenix from out of town to not come. There was no information on various activities, and one friend who was interested in the VIP ticket clicked on the link that lead to nowhere. People are just not going to randomly spend $75 without knowing what, exactly, they are getting. While I always enjoy Pride regardless,because of the friends who attend and the spirit of community that prevails, But for Phoenix Pride to get back on the road to success, we need people who have a vision of the community, and the people Phoenix Pride is supposed to be serving. Too much emphasis on scholarships and other community supports are all well and good, but not at the expense of the patrons who make Pride happen every year. read more