Quest Magazine Vol. 17 Issue 10
June 24 - July 7, 2010

Link to the Quest Cover Feature:
Dear Ruthie Interviews Comediane Devin Green

PrideFest 23: Crowds, Comics, Climate Connect
For A Classy Kick-Off To Wisconsin’s Summer Of Pride
Best-Attended Pride Parade Ever Features Surprise Aerial Sideshow
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By Mike Fitzpatrick, Photos by Steve Vargas & Za

Milwaukee - The 23rd edition of Wisconsin’s biggest annual gay party - Milwaukee PrideFest - saw another record-breaking session for the three-day music and educational festival here June 11-13. The wet weather that plagued the rest of the Badger State over the weekend mostly missed the Cream City. Except for a few post-parade sprinkles Sunday afternoon and intermittent showers during parts of that evening’s headline show, Mother Nature let festival goers sport most of the rainbows on the Henry B. Maier “Summerfest” grounds.


The fun kicked off mid-afternoon on Friday, and by 6 PM more than 3000 had entered the festival grounds. “We had a strong showing early, and significant increase later, PrideFest Producer Pete Minns told Quest.


The festival’s opening ceremonies honored the achievements and dedicated efforts of several LGBT community organizations: WISCRAD, Diverse and Resilient, the AIDS Resources Center of Wisconsin, and BestD Clinic. Mark Mariucci, editor and publisher of Quest, Wisconsin's longest running LGBT publication, also received a Community Service Award, the first ever Pride Medal designed by Paul Masterson and produced for PrideFest by C3 Designs.






During the opening ceremony festival organizers also unveiled the PrideFest postal cancellation and postage stamp created by the U.S. Post Office in collaboration with the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. Throughout the weekend festival attendees could purchase the special edition $1 stamps as well as four specially-designed PrideFest postcards at the first ever Pride postal station.

Dancing started early and went non-stop till Midnight in the PUMP!?Dance Pavilion, which this year featured even more elaborate laser lighting and a stage-wide LED screen along with state-of-the art sound. Billboard hit recording artist Cyon Flare served as mistress of ceremonies for the entire weekend and on opening night offered up celebrity DJs John Murges and Ralphi Rosario from Chicago as well as LA singer/songwriter Vassy.


The highlight of Friday evening was a headline show featuring the return appearance by “My Life On The D-List” star Kathy Griffin. Her 2007 PrideFest appearance had been in front of the largest crowd of her career and Griffin’s publicly-stated goal was to break her own record in 2010. She did so with ease: 9117 fans filled the Miller Light stage area during the show, easily topping 2007’s 8,389 tally.


Griffin chose performing at PrideFest Milwaukee over other both Boston and LA Prides. Her extended dish on celebrities ranged from the Real Housewives of New York and New Jersey to long time favorite subjects Oprah and Ryan Seacrest ultimately ran over twenty minutes past the festival’s scheduled closing time. Griffin ended the night saying, “You are all fantastic, I love you, be proud.”



Saturday saw PrideFest in full swing with both the Health and Wellness and merchandise areas overflowing with new and long-time vendors. By the end of the festival, BestD had tested over 700 men for HIV, the revitalized advocacy group Wisconsin AIDS?Advocates had signed up over 800 new allies, and thousands of festival goers learned abut the programs and services of dozens of local and statewide LGBT health, cultural, educational, religious and political advocacy groups.

Among the afternoon’s highlights was an all-ABBA musical show by the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, a “Fetish and Fantasy” leather fashion show put on by International Mr. Leather and the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center’s hilarious production of “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You.”

Saturday night featured Germany’s classic dance superstars Snap! (“Rhythm Is A Dancer,” “The Power”) and Chicago pop sensation Samwell in the PUMP! Dance Pavilion, while the headline show on the main stage offered divas old and new: the legendary Patti LaBelle, Lena Katina and recent chart-topper Charice.

The crowd warmed to Katina’s high-octave voice filled the evening air. The beautiful siren sang solo ballads as well as hits from her days as one-half of the dance music group t.A.T.u.

The diminutive 18-year old Filipino YouTube sensation followed up by electrifying the crowd with a powerful voice that seemed to belong to a songstress three times her size. In addition to her Billboard dance chart-topping “Pyramid,” Charice received a standing ovation for her powerful rendition of the David Foster-penned ballad “All I need To Survive.”

66 year-old soul legend Patti LaBelle kept the fire going by opening with her 80’s chart-topper “New Attitude,” followed by a string of her solo and duet hits including “If Only You Knew,” “On My Own” and “If You Asked Me To.” The show took an odd turn when LaBelle invited a boisterous, Miller Lite-fueled fan onstage to join in on “Lady Marmalade.”

LaBelle then turned soulful, offering an extended version of “Two Steps Away” from her 2004 comeback album that featured an extended solo by one of her back-up singers who also had survived Hurricane Katrina.

“We’re two steps away from everything,” LaBelle said as she introduced the song. “Loneliness. Happiness. Our last paycheck. Loving our neighbor, black, white, gay, straight...stay gay! Stay the way you are!”

LaBelle’s show ended on an inspirational note, with a heartfelt rendition of “Over The Rainbow” and an encore of “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Throughout the evening, comic Bruce Villanch repeatedly tickled the audience with stories about life in Hollywood and on the comedy club circuit, writing the Oscar shows and his time on “Hollywood Squares.”

Sunday dawned cloudy but had cleared by the time the 51-unit Milwaukee Pride Parade stepped off on South Second St. Parade organizers estimated a record-breaking 6000+ viewed the 90-minute “Fractured Fairy Tale”-themed cavalcade of marching units, floats and decorated cars.

The parade also enjoyed an unexpected aerial twist when the Navy Blue Angels soared, often low and in close formation, five or six times over the parade route. The precision flying team were one of the highlights of the Milwaukee Air & Water Show being held on nearby Bradford Beach on Milwaukee’s Lakefront. As to why the soaring seamen returned again and again to the gay parade route, parade organizers didn’t ask and the Blue Angels wouldn’t tell.

Parade entry winners were announced later that afternoon at PrideFest. Best float was awarded to BOOM with Kenosha’s Club ICON taking second place and Walker’s Pint/Fluid winning third. The Best Marching Unit trophy went to Wisconsin Rainbow Families, with the Lakeside Pride Band as runners up and the Milwaukee LGBT Center selected for third place. The Best Decorated Vehicle award went to SAGE. The 16th Street Community Center took second place and FagBug was third. The Distance Award went to Carl Sanders and the Spirit Award was given to the Nut Hut.

Despite the afternoon showers and early evening light rain, attendance remained strong at PrideFest. The PUMP!?Dance Pavilion offered up L.A. DJ and performer Jeffree Star, Florida’s Blood On The Dance Floor. transsexual icon and performer Amanda LePore and dance sensation Kaci Bettaglia.

Those attending the main stage review clearly had heard the weather forecast as rain bonnets and umbrellas covered all but a few festival goers. Acid-tongued LOGO reality show star Robert Verdi proved the perfect host for the final night of Miller Lite Stage acts: the super-sized Glamazons, the B-52’s and Joan Crawford-inspired Joans and of course the acerbic humor of Joan Rivers.

No one was spared from Rivers’ non-stop barrage of side-splitting barbs: the old, the young, fat people, lesbians who don’t laugh, the Pope and long-time friends Cher and Rosie O’Donnell.

“I don’t think the laughter stopped once,” PrideFest Communications Director Kate Sherry told Quest. “Joan came out to a loud cheer, and had the crowd in stitches for the entire show.”


Betty White’s recent comments about Facebook recently on Saturday Night Live seemed to set-up the 77 year-old Rivers’ send-up of Twitter. Rivers joked about her love of texting and what it would have been like years ago if Twitter existed.


“Can you imagine if it existed 60, or 70 years ago,” she asked. “It’s Amelia Earhart, twitter twitter, where the fuck am I?” and “It’s Rosa Parks, twitter twitter, I’m sitting in the front of the bus, uh oh....”


At festival’s end, organizers tallied up the estimated total attendance to find another record had been broken. An estimated 30,358 had passed through PrideFest’s turnstiles, besting 2009’s record of 30,084 by nearly 300 guests.


“We were up almost 300 patrons from our 2009 attendance” PrideFest Producer Pete Minns said. “It’s amazing when I consider what we do, with what we have. We manage to put on this incredible festival with a lot of hard work and dedication.”


Capturing the sights of the weekend’s events were Quest’s photo team of publisher Mark Mariucci, Will Sharkey and Steve Vargas. the trio shot well over two thousand candids of PrideFest attendees and shows during the weekend. The Quest website - www.quest-online.com - has links to photo galleries. Facebook postings from Will and Mark are also available for festival goers who want to tag themselves in the photos. PrideFest has also posted a large number of photos from the weekend. PrideFest shots are on the festival website at: www.pridefest.com.