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Pride Northwest has announced that as it readies to celebrate its “sweet 16 anniversary” June 19-20 — and the 40th anniversary of the first Pride parade — the Portland parade route for this year’s main event is changing.
After lining up in the Pearl District, the parade will kick off at Burnside and 12th, where, heading south, it’ll turn left on Stark Street for several blocks.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The route then hangs a left on Broadway, crossing Burnside and heading into Old Town, where it turns right on NW Davis and continues until approaching the waterfront.
The long and short of it is that while the new route takes care to include bar staples on Stark Street (Scandals, Red Cap) and now Davis (Hobo’s, Embers, CC Slaughters, et al.), it all but bypasses downtown altogether.
Thoughts?
4 responses so far ↓
1 Jill // Mar 9, 2010 at 12:26 pm
I think including the bar staples is nice, however, bypassing downtown is unfortunate.
2 Daniel Borgen // Mar 9, 2010 at 12:29 pm
I’m not sure what the thought process is here, but I’m terribly disappointed that we’re bypassing Pioneer Square and the heart of downtown. I get that the Pride Parade is “our” parade–that is, it serves our people and our community. But it’s also a no-holds-barred, balls-y demonstration to let the city (and world) know–we’re here, we’re queer, we’re motivated. With all due respect to the gay powers-that-be, I find it hard to stomach any “activism” that feels like cowering–aka skipping the heart of the city. I do recognize the need to include Stark, especially considering the gentrification in full force there, but seriously: no Broadway? No Pioneer Square? It won’t be quite the same.
3 Deb Counts-Tabor // Mar 9, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I think we lose even more visibility. How many people are in Old Town on a Sunday afternoon, vs the heart of downtown on a Saturday?
4 Ricky // Mar 10, 2010 at 11:46 am
Lame. Just so that it can pass all the gay bars? I guess that defines us? Maybe next year the route will include all the Fantasy stores and bath houses too? Two steps forward, one step back.
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