Rockford Pride Fest 2013: Reflections in Words

Ok, folks. I have been trying to upload this new blog I constructed over the weekend. It’s about how I saw Rockford’s 2^nd annual Pride Fest, which was held June 1-2 at Vasa Park in southeastern Rockford. This wi-fi signal at my motel, which alone can’t help revive its already-prone notation as a source for drug pushers and prostitutes, is never strong enough to even to attempt to call Superman long-distance. Screw his new movie coming out this week! The people at the front desk did tell me this was going to happen, since it shares its respective signal with the nearby ambulance station nearby. Geez, it may be time to save up a few pennies and take the dreaded bus over to the local library. I used to have a mobile wi-fi gadget via Cricket that would get me online in no time. However, at $50/month, it was too much money for not enough Gigabites to use, especially when Mariah’s ever-present, bored-as-hell retro self keeps wasting the time on YouTube. You guys know I have a little business going on here, right?

It is days like this when I keep realizing how I may not have had everything I wanted in life in my 42 years, I still did have something to be proud about: an apartment with a large living room & bedroom to match, my own set of wheels to get me around Rockford, my cats Sonny & Maurice (aka Moo-Moo), a dependable gig to help fund my future goals, and of course, someone else’s name on the lease. My Comcast service was good for what it was worth until it was turned off for non-payment at the beginning of every month. Mariah and I are spending our third summer living in a motel room, and what I had then I am missing it SO much right now. I still pray to God that I can get this back and more someday down the road.

Now with that amount of venting complete, please allow me to wish everyone a Happy Pride Month to all of the people in the LGBT communities around the world. Or is it GLTB?  GLBTA? TGLBQA? Anyway you say it, you'll know what it means. Last weekend (June 1, to be exact) I got to attend Rockford's 2nd annual Pride Fest. Unlike its inaugural location one year earlier in downtown Rockford, the new home to the festivities was almost hard to locate on the map. The location where Rockford Pride '13 was held was at Vasa Park, a wooded shade of land located in the southeastern part of town near Interstate 39. I never knew of this place. Even when I delivered pizzas nearly a decade ago I rarely ever came this far out. (Look out for an odd story at the end, so watch out for it.) I got word that this place at least has its own kitchen, stage and tent. Oh yeah, don't forget about the beer garden, as well! The parking was right out front as soon as you drove onto the field. All you did then was basically walk up to the booth and pay for your tickets. Nice. 

Last Saturday, there was I, all dressed up with my war paint on and a business outfit I bought on ebay with my pal Gary, who was donning the unique-looking rainbow-colored squid on his head. He picked it up while in Tennessee. Had to have it, he said.  We made the long journey across Rockford to Vasa Park, where a host of rainbow flags covered the gated area to the parking lot. Of course, there were those ever-present protesters with there signs all but condemning homosexuality and same-sex marriage. (You do know Illinois may become the 13th state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage by month's end. Think about just how pissed off those naysayers will be then!) We passed their ignorance and drove into the parking lot. I took a look with my own eyes on this place. You'll be doing a bit more walking here than last year, but it'll do. Damn! I brought the wrong shoes for this! 

Gary and I got to walk around the venue a bit throughout the day. Because of the shoes (Those $85 POS I bought from the Be-All 2010 convention are NOT for backwoods parties!) I wore for this day, I got to sit down a lot more than I wanted. This is where I shot the first part of my video recap....right on the steps of the bathroom, Gary would remind me! The sun did make an appearance for a while in the afternoon hours after we volunteered at Spring Creek UCC's booth. It was early, in festival standards, so it was a little slow at first. The weather was moderate for most of Saturday, yet it felt cooler than it looked. My Pastor, Ivan Schoen, almost didn't recognize me when I showed up!  Eh, just showing respect for the "T's. Lord knows transpeople are people, too.  I have no idea why there were a lot of bugs that went to town on my legs! I had gotten tired of scratching every few minutes to swat a few bugs from making dents on my skin. Gary, Ivan, and our friends, Bob & Russell, were kicking back on lawn chairs, yet no bug bites. Go figure. 

Well, well, look at this! All of the local news stations showed up to see how well this year’s crowd would turn out. I should mention that they only came by during the first few hours of the event, so the crowds may look fewer than it looked. Snippets of what they caught on camera were on the evening news, including Gary's funny-looking hat, those aforementioned anti-LGBT haters, ...and a brief glimpse of me! I told Gary one of the cameras was in our direction. Why does the camera love to follow naysayers? Imagine the publicity Rockford Pride would have gotten had those goons from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS  showed up?  One can get only so much Silly String to shut them all up.

Vasa Park is mainly covered in grass with a dirt road located in a wooded suburbia. In a way, it looks like a more spacious venue compared to last year's inaugural affair at Davis Park in downtown Rockford. The only thing that could be seen from a distance were the questionable 5-foot high banners courtesy of the protesters standing outside the gate. Nothing here was like last year, where the scenic Rock River was only footsteps away. The venues were all together almost in a circle-like. The weather that day, you ask? Couldn't have asked for a nice, albeit slightly warm day! Ok, me having a booth there promoting Hutchins World Travel. THEN it couldn't have been better! 

Unlike last year, I did get to pass out some more of my business cards to the people. I actually introduced myself to a host of people, gay and straight. Met a host of people, too. Some of them are on the Pride video I made (it's on YouTube right now). I proudly wore my Be-All name tag with "Kayleah" on it-like they were going to know how the name is pronounced. It was so I didn't have to over-shout the blaring of the nearby speakers. So they may find out Kayleah is only my t-girl name and the info on the business cards have my given info on it. The more people see me enough, they should know who I am. Only a matter of time when they contact me for their travel plans.

One thing that can usually ruin a festival? Rain. I was at this tent in front of the stage near the back of the park.  Yes, met some folks. Gary and a bunch of folks were doing their best kareoke tunes. Gary can really sing, mind you. It was then that I felt some rain drops. Uh-oh. One can only hope for drizzle. Then I heard...THUNDER. Time to hit the tent. Looky-looky, it’s shower time! It started to pour. The crowd headed for shelter, with a good number of them under the same tent I was at. I could've walked around and guaranteed my makeup would be washed off completely! For safety concerns, all power was cut off, including the air-supported castle next to the stage. Rockford Pride staff came by and physically cleaned up the rain off the makeshift stage...using towel paper. Really? Did anyone even watch the weather like yours truly and prepare for a downpour? Or were they just wanting to "clean up" its image? Whatever. The power came back on shortly after that, and to make sure it was working well, someone read poetry. This came close to putting my ass to sleep! I know poetry can be nice, but not here. I was SO glad I brought my nail polish to kill time between shows...and more kareoke. I'm guessing Gary was hanging out because it may have gotten a little boring from then on. I was constantly yawning and wiping the tears away to avoid the raccoon look in my makeup.

I did meet a few of the performers there, several I knew, some others not so well. One of them caught me taking a picture of her, so she asked me if I could take one of her. I was firing up my two-year old trusty Kodak digital camera...but she didn't have her hair on. Damn, don't you just hate that? Another performer had a wig that reminded me of my old curly burnt orange wig that was misplaced so many years ago. She was a Chicago t-girl whose name I didn't get, but her the way her eyes were made up were to die for! There was another performer who had a wig of blonde curliness almost to her waist. She told me she had purchased it at CherryVale Mall, the largest mall in Rockford (about 20 minutes from Vasa Park). I had to take a pic of that. Almost forgot to mention my friend JaNiya Diamond, who I am getting the chance to be one of her sponsors in next month's Miss Gay Rockford Pageant. She might not have been performing, but it was nice to see another friendly face there.

It was nearing about 8:00 pm. Gary and I were getting a bit tired. So we started heading toward the main gate. I passed out a few more cards and invited some people to come by and visit our LGBT-welcoming church, especially some of my fellow African-American brothers and sisters. (I have mentioned it needed some real color, didn’t I?) Took several more pictures of some of the younger folks dancing to the club-infused dance area, then we hit the exit. There was a car about to enter the parking lot as we were leaving. It was a pizza delivery coming this way! I won't say which company it was, but I guarantee Pizza Hut has them beat! Why would someone wait until after sundown to order pizza at an outside event like this? Where was it during the storm? I could use a bite! 

We drove up 11th street heading home. Since I last worked in this side of Rockford in who knows how long, things have definitely changed. The pizza joint on the corner of 11& Harrison and the adjacent motel inn that occupied the whole block? Closed and leveled. It's now only a shade of its former glory. The Denny's right by 11th & Sandy Hollow? Just that with the nearby former IGA store- hollow. The Penny Pincher gas station that caught fire 4 years ago has been completely renovated. The gas station across from the Catholic school? Boarded up. The railroad bump before you get to 18th Ave? Still among the worst in town, especially if you're cruising northbound in the left lane. OUCH!. Hilander/Logli is now Schnucks out of St. Louis. I can't say things are getting worse for this side of Rockford. I can only hope it gets better. 

Gary drops me off & heads home. I upload my pics onto my trusty laptop and set up my webcam to record what would be the tail end of the video. That gets done, and I spend the next hour editing this piece together. It was then that I grab the TV remote and see how the local news folks reported Rockford Pride. Since the Illinois Senate's decision not to vote on the same-sex marriage issue, the newsies used that as a lead-in story. But never fear, 30 seconds later...I showed Mariah shouting "THERE I AM!!!" on TV. It was for a minor heartbeat, but I got on. Gary's rainbow hat got more exposure! Oh well. We eventually decided that we wouldn't go back to volunteer on Sunday's conclusion. Good thing, too...the weather was too damn cool for an outdoor festival celebration!  In 2014, I have been told that Rockford Pride will go back to only one day...for now. But you never know what could happen in the next 12 months to get more exposure!

This IS interesting: Movieplex, one of those movie channels few people may know about (it’s actually part of the Starz Channel family) has been playing 1995’s "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar",  just in time for Pride Month! Keep in mind they don’t air any “R” movies, so hoping for them to play either “Paris is Burning” or “Flawless” with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert DeNiro  is out the window. I’ll have to get the DVD of that one day. Especially for my favorite LGBT movie, 1994’s Academy Award-winning “The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert”. Those Aussies DEFINITELY know how to out-dress us American queens!

I have probably said more than this blog can handle. You guys are free to chat about this and any of the blogs that yours truly has written in the past few months. As always, comments are welcome!