Baltimore Pride Festival

Elite '08

18

167

Larry G.

Capitol Heights, MD

We're here!  We're queer!  Now, go pierce your ear!

I've been living in the DC area for 9 years and it was my first time coming up to Baltimore for their Pride festival.  Imagine that!  And, I have to say that even though Baltimore's was smaller, I think I liked theirs better.

First of all, it was at a park.  What a novel idea!  Shades, here and there...what a cool idea!  

Let's compare the Pride festivals between DC and Balty:
1. A friend, who joined me and my partner, said that the Pride in DC is very political.  So, in DC, the vendors are aggressive...getting you to sign petitions or come to their booths.  In Balty, the vendors are fairly mellow.  No pressure to come check out their booths/products or sign petitions.  Plus, less numbers of religious organizations in Balty.  I think it's great that religious organizations are open to GLBT's.  It's just that in DC, it's like every other booth is a religious organization.

2.  There's no adult daycare!  My partner coined this after seeing the recent trend in DC.  In DC, if you wanna drink alcohol, you have to go to a designated spot to drink.  It looks somewhat like a fenced outdoor backyard filled with adults.  So...it's an adult daycare.  In Balty, you just buy your drink and carry it with you everywhere through the park.

3.  Good stuff!  The booths in Balty actually had some interesting stuff to check out.  In fact, there's was an adult store/booth where you could check out some toys like dildos and swings.  You won't see that in DC.  Like I said, the booths in DC are political in nature.

4.  People actually come here to relax.  People bring their children, coolers and whatnots and relax in front of the performing stage.  In the shade!  

5.  The only thing that DC has better than Balty is that DC hands out freebies.  Who doesn't love freebies?!?!  Sure, Balty hands out paper and pamphlets.  But, we don't want that.  We want the candies, the tote bags, the foam balls, the pens and all that.  Heck, we even want the stickers!

Overall, truly enjoyed myself with some margaritas.  The park was just beautiful, filled with hot men and interesting characters.

The festival was just small.  You could go through the whole thing in less than an hour.  That's if you didn't stay to listen to some singers or eat and drink.  Parking was weird there.  Getting in was no problem.  It was getting out that was confusing.  The car behind us was also confused about getting out.

Other than that, good time there!

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