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sonia10. I'm proud of going places by myself. Finding events that are interesting, figuring out how to get there, and showing up alone. It gets easier with practice, and I had to start practicing when I moved to Portland and didn't know anyone. It's something I'm a little sad to have gotten good at, but it's a useful skill for living alone.
Yesterday I went to Oakland's Rainbow Fair, organized by the new Oakland LGBTQ Center in the newly designated Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District. Getting there was easy, it's only a couple of miles away and was held at the same park where I go to the Grand Lake Farmers Market every week.
Sadly the Fair was sparsely attended, but I made the round of the organizations' booths and chatted with the people staffing them, and bought an expensive fruit juice to show my support. If they hadn't had the music quite so loud, I would have stayed longer.
One of the hard parts is figuring out what to wear. For Pride I got out the necklace of rainbow rings on a chain and rainbow bracelet that I bought long ago at a Pride Fair and hung onto all these years. And my rainbow knee high socks. At the booths I picked up a she/her pin and a rainbow heart sticker to complete my ensemble. I thought surely they'd be selling that same rainbow steel jewelry, but not at this event. They weren't even selling tie-dye t-shirts! The focus was on service organizations rather than merchandise.
Yesterday I went to Oakland's Rainbow Fair, organized by the new Oakland LGBTQ Center in the newly designated Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District. Getting there was easy, it's only a couple of miles away and was held at the same park where I go to the Grand Lake Farmers Market every week.
Sadly the Fair was sparsely attended, but I made the round of the organizations' booths and chatted with the people staffing them, and bought an expensive fruit juice to show my support. If they hadn't had the music quite so loud, I would have stayed longer.
One of the hard parts is figuring out what to wear. For Pride I got out the necklace of rainbow rings on a chain and rainbow bracelet that I bought long ago at a Pride Fair and hung onto all these years. And my rainbow knee high socks. At the booths I picked up a she/her pin and a rainbow heart sticker to complete my ensemble. I thought surely they'd be selling that same rainbow steel jewelry, but not at this event. They weren't even selling tie-dye t-shirts! The focus was on service organizations rather than merchandise.
no subject
Date: 2024-06-11 11:28 pm (UTC)I love love love the rainbow zebra stripes in the crosswalk.
Maybe attendance was affected by there being so many pride-adjacent events in the Bay Area?
no subject
Date: 2024-06-14 02:13 am (UTC)I think the event wasn't that well-publicized. I just happened to pick up a flyer weeks ago at the farmers market at the same park, and keep it floating around until the event. Also it was WAY TOO LOUD, so people weren't going to stick around. There weren't that many booths, either. Really fabulous rainbow arches made out of balloons at the park entrances though - who wouldn't want to check that out!