Macon Pride & the 2003 International Cherry Blossom Festival
Click Here to promote your business for free at this year's Cherry Blossom Festival, by listing your business in our new Resource Guide brochure!
updated 01-27-03
Greetings Friends! (if you wish to volunteer individually without a group, email us)
I would like to personally invite you and your LGBT-friendly organization to participate alongside Macon Pride in two of the biggest opportunities ever for Macon's LGBT community.
For the first time ever, Macon Pride will be actively participating for the full ten days in Macon's 2003 International Cherry Blossom Festival.
Like last year, we will have a community float in the Cherry Blossom Parade on March 23, 2003. But this year we will also be registering for a community information booth in Central City Park for the entire duration of the Festival.
We would very much like to share these opportunities with your organization to multiply your community outreach efforts enormously during the Festival.
By having your group represented in our booth at Central City Park, your group will be accessible to over 10,000 mainstream patrons PER DAY. Consider our educational impact alone on the mainstream population!
And, at a modest estimate of just 10% of those visitors being gay, lesbian or having gay family members, you will have the opportunity to reach 1,000 people PER DAY in our community who likely never knew your group existed in Macon, but should.
Some highlights to expect at our booth:
- A huge 8' red banner which reads "Resources for Lesbians and Gays in Middle Georgia" will proudly identify our booth.
- The Hole in the Wall LGBT Youth Group will debut their video outreach project on a looped videotape playing continuously inside our booth.
Your organization will have the opportunity to:
distribute literature describing your mission or projects,
recruit members for your organization,
conduct surveys for research related to your cause,
make lots of new friends, and
double or triple your mailing list daily from our community booth.
I hope you will join us there.
To participate in this tremendous opportunity at our community booth, a registration fee of $60 will be required from your organization no later than January 10, 2003. Your organization will also be responsible for producing your own literature, research materials, mailing list, etc., some of which will require volunteer support from your organization.
The dates of the Cherry Blossom Festival are March 21-30, 2003, which gives you plenty of time to recruit volunteers and produce new, current literature for your organization. But we must have your $60 booth fee by January 10, 2003 to complete our registration process with the CBF Committee.
On Sunday, March 23, 2003 at 3pm, our community's exposure to hundreds of thousands of people gets in your face literally with the Macon Pride community float in the Cherry Blossom Parade.
The streets of downtown Macon are lined with tens of thousands of spectators during this event, and the eyes of thousands more are watching (and taping) the live broadcast on their televisions. It's the most perfect opportunity to tell all of Macon that we're here and queer and love our hometown!
Your organization is invited to share space and visibility with us on the colorful community float. A float fee of $50 will be required from your group no later than March 1, 2003. Your organization will be responsible for its own signage (as space permits), and for volunteer support for float decorations and actual representation. We'll contact you with details as the event draws near.
Cherry Blossom Festival 2003 Macon Pride activities:
March 21-30, 2003 : 10 days at the Macon Pride Community information booth in Central City Park Participating Groups: Macon Pride, Inc. Mercer Triangle Symposium Central City AIDS Network
High Street UUC
PFLAG-Macon
St. Barnabas MCC
Tom Mercer, author Coat Hanger Clinic
- volunteer to help staff the booth in 3-hour shifts
- register your group to participate; $60/group; see info at left.
Cherry Blossom Parade Float through downtown Macon
March 23, 2003 3pm Community Float seen by tens of thousands of spectators Participating Groups: Macon Pride, Inc. Mercer Triangle Symposium Hole in the Wall Gang Central City AIDS Network Middle Georgia Pride
Thursday, April 10, 2003 Two Tours back to back; conducted by Phil Comer and Johnny Fambro
Learn the history of our culture, all the way back to the first house built inside Macon's city limits
See beautiful homes designed by noted gay architects
Discover the seedy roots of our modern downtown culture
- Tour passes $18 each; or take both tours for $30
Limited Tour Seating! Reserve yours now, before they're gone.
The following local LGBT-related organizations have also been invited to join us in these opportunities:
PFLAG-Macon,
Middle Georgia Pride,
Hole in the Wall Gang LGBT youth group,
Georgia Equality - Macon chapter,
St. Barnabas MCC,
High Street UUC,
Wesleyan GLOBAL Campus organization,
Mercer Triangle Symposium,
GCSU GLBT Campus organization,
Central City AIDS Network,
Middle Georgia Potluck Friends,
Tapestry News.
If your group wants to join in the excitement, send an email to maconpride2002@yahoo.com specifying your parade/booth interests, your mailing address and phone number, before January 10, 2003. We'll contact you to confirm.
IMAGINE the impact on our town if each of these groups are visibly present in the world famous International Cherry Blossom Festival and Parade! YES, Macon's LGBT community thrives! Help us show it with Pride!
If your group is listed above, please reply via email to maconpride2002@yahoo.com with your organization's intentions to join us in the booth and/or on the float, as soon as possible.
Remember, the $60 booth fee is required by January 10, 2003 and the $50 float fee is required by March 1, 2003. We will follow up to your reply by postal mail with a letter of intent to participate in each activity you select
(please give us your current mailing address with your email reply).
I hope you will join us in this historic opportunity to network and grow with Macon's LGBT community. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thanks for your consideration,
Chris Coggins, president
Macon Pride, Inc.
PO Box 23121
Macon Georgia 31212
http://www.maconpride.org PS- Don't you think it's about time a city festival that's made up of PINK flowers and ribbons all over the place finally has the labeled gay presence it needs? Please join us there!
