Like most gay street events in the city, the nighttime booze fest has been managed by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who for 15 years have handled security and collected donations at the gates to cover costs and support charitable causes. The Bay Area Reporter notes that the event netted the Sisters’ only $267 after expenses and grants last year, so they have threatened to back out of the event if they aren’t permitted to expand the footprint of the fest down Market Street (which is typically closed off anyway), adding entertainment and alcohol concessions.
Sources close to The Sword describe what they’d call a shakedown by the police, who issued an ultimatum to the Sisters that they refused to accept — namely, that they would have to confine drinking to designated beer gardens or else cover the $250,000 in overtime that the department will have to pay officers to man the event. The police are not technically being asked to cover any more ground than in previous years, but they seem to want a bigger piece of the action and thereby make the event totally unprofitable to the people who throw it.
This follows on pressure from the police and City for Dore Alley fair organizers to crackdown on nudity and public sex at this year’s fest or else risk losing their permit.
The standoff continues today, with Supervisor Bevan Dufty throwing his support behind the Sisters in a meeting with the Mayor’s office, and Sister Barbi Mitzvah remaining hopeful: “We are feeling very confident,” she says.
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Pink Saturday Changes in Limbo (Bay Area Reporter Online)
*Pink Saturday is one of the five largest street festivals in San Francisco (four of the five are predominantly gay — SF Pride, Pink Saturday, Up Your Alley, Folsom Street Fair — with Love Parade/Love Fest being the only mixed event) and typically features DJs, beer concessions and Castro, 18th and Market Streets closed off to traffic.
Does anyone else think the police in the city are big frickin joke? We have our street fairs and mind our own business without problems. Why don’t they just stay over in the Marina and deal with those doosh bags over there who cause problems at their Street Fairs! These street fairs bring in a lot of money for the City! And on a side note, I sponsor and help promote these events and they are always a blast!
FYI: Love Fest is gay owned and produced………
The Top Five are Gay and the Top 6 are Gay Produced.
Parties are gross? Then don’t go asshole. I think the ideas the sisters have for Pink Saturday are making it better for the community and including everyone and making this more than a “drinking fest”. Make it work girls – we love you
…dicks.
The parties are gross, but still. That’s not cool.