Citing budgetary shortfalls, St. Pete Pride canceled its July 19 Shades of Pride event, signaling waning support from bay area sponsorships, and increased costs to put on the event. According to St. Pete Pride\u2019s nonprofit leadership, though individual donations grew this year, it wasn\u2019t enough to save Shades of Pride, billed as a celebration of Black queerness.<\/p>\n
Events like that require large enough business sponsorships to operate without a deficit, explained Byron Green-Calisch, St. Pete Pride Board President. This year\u2019s deficit begs the question of where that money will be sourced next year, if events must be cut and if Pride \u2013 which celebrates the LBGTQ+ community throught the month of June and beyond \u2013 can reignite community support.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are searching for partnerships that allow us different financial models,\u201d said Green-Calisch.<\/p>\n
But the St. Pete organization\u2019s financial challenges did not emerge overnight. The economics have shifted over the last two decades, as Pride has grown and evolved.<\/p>\n
The Pride parade wasn\u2019t always held along the waterfront. The original event started at Georgie\u2019s Alibi on 3rd Avenue N. and 34th Street, and ran through Central Avenue in the Grand Central District before terminating at Haslam\u2019s Bookstore.<\/p>\n
That route was intentional: businesses in Grand Central historically supported and welcomed the LGBTQ+ community, and the economic boost that followed the parade was a way of rewarding those businesses for supporting the community.<\/p>\n
That route sustained from 2003 to 2016, but in 2017, the Pride Parade moved to Beach Drive, fundamentally changing its economics. The effect for Grand Central businesses was negative: the higher-end Beach Drive establishments received the economic boost Grand Central once anticipated.<\/p>\n
Notably, at that time, Beach Drive was less friendly to the LGBTQ+ community, though separate events were held at places like the Dali Museum, according to Brian Longstreth, the original founder of St. Pete Pride. This was one of the factors that limited Pride to the Grand Central District.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Pride has lost something on Beach Drive. It always had a better feel in the community in the Grand Central District,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never felt that Beach Drive was the right place for the parade,\u201d Longstreth added. \u201cIt\u2019s a very short parade route now, and those who have to pay to enter, I don\u2019t think they get the bang for their buck.\u201d<\/p>\n
The previous route was 14 blocks, nearly two miles, versus the 1.5 miles it is now. From a police, sanitation and permitting perspective, however, limiting the event to the waterfront is more manageable and safe \u2013 something Longstreth is cognizant of, and Green-Calisch echoed. Green Calisch stated that \u201cmoving the parade to Beach Drive, we are along the water and only have to worry about one side of the street. Down Central they have to focus on two sides of the street.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if returning Pride to Grand Central would garner more sponsorships, Longstreth opined that there isn\u2019t a noticeable correlation between location and sponsorships.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere might be some smaller businesses that would be willing to contribute more, but I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s on a large dollar amount level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Still, the organization must make up for this year\u2019s economic shortcomings before next year \u2013 an issue exacerbated by Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019s anti-DEI and LGBTQ+ legislation, which could curtail the city\u2019s ability to contribute to the event without penalties.<\/p>\n
The relationship Pride has with the City currently is a discount on Pride\u2019s bill for using city services. Pride is billed about $300,000 for the event, and the city provides a discount that slashes the bill in half to approximately $150,000. But under the new legislation, the city may not be able to engage in the discount moving forward.<\/p>\n
Instead, Green-Calisch said they may have to \u201creimagine the events,\u201d i.e., make them cheaper without cutting them entirely, such as they had to do with Shades of Pride.<\/p>\n
Longstreth said they are going to have to tighten their belts fiscally, but also noted that whoever runs the event should be well compensated because it\u2019s a difficult job.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving done that job, I would not wish anyone to do it for free,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Despite the budgetary shortfall this year, St. Pete Pride remains a massive economic driver for the city. Hotels are booked solid from St. Pete Beach all the way to downtown, effecting massive bed tax gains for the city and county. Meaning money is still collected from tourism, while the event suffers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey may have to scale the event back,\u201d said Longstreth. \u201cPride needs to support itself, and that comes down to sponsorship dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Citing budgetary shortfalls, St. Pete Pride canceled its July 19 Shades of Pride event, signaling waning support from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-331130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}