Back at cha!

What a ride!

No sooner did we get the June Pride issue out, it’s Memorial Day weekend.  And, with Memorial Day comes the annual Memorial Weekend Picnic at North Park.  Ed and I got to the park early and to our surprise, many others did too.  Who says Pittsburghers are always late?  As the day went on, the crowd swelled into the upper parking lot and all over the lodge grounds.  Many faces that I knew, but many unfamiliar. 

The entrance was guarded by Gilbert from Images, Chuck Honse and a nice looking police officer.  No, not Tony, the cute Pittsburgh Police officer that is a staple at many of the gay events around town.  Although, we did see him later in the day.  Also spotted was David Stanton who is Out’s website manager and my co-host on Talk It Out, Brian T, www.outonline.com’s OTV and Gay Life TV personality, Jason Lucarelli from OTV’s Pridecast, Cassandra Buncie from Delta, Out’s famous photographer Mara Rago, Bill Kaelin, Greco (now living in Baltimore), P-Town owners Gary and Jeff, Jon aka The Link Pixter and his friends one of which I overheard she was that famous bitch in Out newspaper while I was standing in the port-a-john line,  Peter, Steve and Gary Vanhorn working their asses off getting the food ready for you drunken picnic folks and many more people from Pittsburgh, Ohio and West Virginia.  Ed and I were there too!  Noticibly absent that day was Donny Thinnes.  I can assure you he is doing fine.  I visited with him earlier in the week and he looks good.  He has had a tough few months, but he assured me that he will be at Pride. 

It was wonderful seeing such a large crowd of LGBT people having a good time.  My guess is 1500+ attended.  Thanks guys and gals for a wonderful picnic. 

Later that evening, some of the city bars were were bursting at the seams.  Real Luck Cafe seems to pack them in after the picnic and this year was no different.  I heard after the bar closed, the deck and parking lot were still packed with folks.  Hotel/Motel Time…  If you know the rest of that saying, than you probably were one of people in that (or another) parking lot in Pittsburgh at 2:30am.    One person reported back to me that Nancy, the owner of the bar was the perfect host on the deck.  Nancy, we have to talk!

Much like Lucky’s, the clubs around town were partying like it was 1999.  Remember that?  1999, I am talking about.  Sources tell me that the Sunday evening felt like a Saturday night in our bars.   It is great seeing our establishments making money.  I am one that believes we should support our LGBT AND LGBT friendly businesses.  And, Pittsburgh you did just that last weekend.  

Pick up the June Pride issue of Out (now available) and the Pride Guide.  Enjoy!  Don’t forget to support the businesses that advertised in these publications because without them, Pittsburgh’s  Out newspaper and the Pride Festival could not be a success.

Post-Delta Foundation Memorial Weekend Picnic, we headed to a family picnic on Irwin.  Chris and his girlfriend took the younger boys to the Irwin picnic so that Ed and I could attend the North Park picnic.  Thank you Heather and Chris!

I need to wrap things up so I can get ready for Heinz Hall.  Spring Awakening is in town until May 31, but you probably already know that from the banner and video ads on www.outonline.com.  Speaking of the website, it is not too late to reach LGBT folks for Pride week.  Banner ads reach THOUSANDS of people a day, many of which will visiting Pittsburgh for Pride week.  Don’t miss the last opportunity to reach this desirable community.  As I mentioned above, they will support your business.  tony@outpub.com

Missed ya!

Keep Reading…

Tony

PS…rumor has it that Out has a new My Space page to go along with it’s website, facebook and Twitter (www.twitter.com/outonline).

ME, TOMORROW..TALK IT OUT…11AM.  WATCH LIVE!

This entry was posted on 26. May 2009 at 23:46 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.