 Hi, I'm Tom Handel with another CTN member highlight. This time we're covering Pride Portland, and I'm here with my two guests, Mark Chadborne and Michelle Patrick, the co-chairs of this year's Pride Portland. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having us. Before we get into the specifics of Pride Portland and all the things that are going to be leading up to it, do you want to give people a little background on how Pride came about and what it's all about? Would you cry? Go ahead. So I think a lot of people don't understand that these Pride celebrations that look like big joyous parades in the street were really born of the civil rights movement way back in the 60s. And celebrations have been happening for over 40 years now internationally, and generally happen every June, and it's kind of a way to commemorate where we've come from and how much further we have to go in terms of our civil rights, the LGBTQIA civil rights movement. That's great. And the organization here in Portland, Pride Portland, is just brand new, three years old. Do you want to talk a little bit about that organization? Sure. Three years ago, the organization that had held it prior decided they weren't going to hold it, so Chris O'Connor and Jill Barclay rallied the troops, so to speak, and managed to put a parade on, a very successful parade and events day down at Deering Oaks. And so since then, we're a brand new non-profit organization, and we've been building on the Pride events every year. I think we're getting better and better, and we try to provide the ten days of pride is meant to provide different events that will hopefully resonate with a large part of the community. And when is it this year? It's June 10th through the 18th. 19th. We have one final party on the 19th. Oh, that's right. So the 18th is the big parade day, the party at Deering Oaks, but like I said, it starts the 10th, and there'll be a number of events, but like I said, we hope we'll appeal to a large segment of the population in and around Portland, and actually we have people that come from all over the country. And this isn't something that happens that makes money or anything, you actually need to raise money for this sort of thing and keep the organization going. We are a non-profit. We are registered non-profit, and we're actually able to operate as a 501C3 through the help of our fiscal sponsor, Equality Main. It's really how we were able to start three years ago. They and a lot of the other organizations have really supported us, and we support them. It's really a whole community effort. And you have fundraisers that support as well? Yes. It's funny, a lot of people focus on just what happens in June, but really not only do we have fundraisers throughout the year, and we have some coming up that people can check out on our Facebook page. But we're doing more events, community building events throughout the year too, and not just in June. So it is part of our mission to bring community together, and so we're able to do more and more of that. So now you're going to have a launch party to kind of just tell everyone what exactly is going to happen at Pride, and when is that happening, where is it happening? That's the big reveal, so to speak, and that's Friday, May 13th. It's going to be at Port City Music Hall. It starts at 8 o'clock, and it's one of our 18-plus events. Oh, great. Great. And what kinds of things can people expect to see at Pride, Portland, that are going to be revealed at the Pride launch? I'll let you, because I'll probably say too much. Well, yeah, I know. You might reveal too much. That's right. But aside from who the marshals will be, it'll be what events will happen during the week, and some of them will include some big names or historic names, and I'm afraid I might reveal it too if I keep talking, but we will have, we try to have something for everyone. So like family-friendly events, outdoor events, lots of cultural events, our history night is a mainstay. I can definitely say there will be a history night. Again, it's a very popular in collaboration with the library. So we do try to provide a wide spectrum of events, and we always encourage people to sort of get involved. If they don't see something that's representative there, part of the community or they feel is missing, we're always welcoming not only feedback, but involvement to help make it happen, because we can't cover all the bases. Right. The launch party is, what's that like, and where is it? That's going to be held at Port City Music Hall. Doors open at seven, the festivities will start at eight o'clock. It's open to the public, 18 and over. But it's open to the public. We want everyone to come, and like I said, there'll be a lot of celebration about the upcoming events, and like I said, it's a big reveal, and everyone will get to see exactly what we have planned, and buy t-shirts and baseball caps if they want them this year. Part of our fundraiser was Raffle Baskets, and we'll have a lot of entertainment. Yes, there will be entertainment, yes. There'll be live entertainment variety, always a little something different every year, but a broad spectrum of entertainment, including dance and also some dancing as well. I think we might be having two different DJs this year, to kind of mix it up a little bit. So just to wrap up and let people know how they can get more information, and if you need anything, or need volunteers or money or whatever, what people can do. Can I just say something about volunteers real quick? We need lots of them all throughout the year, and especially on parade and festival day, over 300 people we need that day. Just carrying the flag, which is, is it 900 feet long? I'm not sure. It's a river of pride, it's this flag that goes on blocks and blocks, and that alone takes 300 people to carry. So what we have is a core group of people who start out with it, and as it unfurls, we ask people from the sides of the street to jump in and help carry this thing, and it's the last thing that goes down. So it's like everybody's kind of going that way anyway, just grab a hold to keep it up. Yeah, it's, and people love that, kids love running underneath it and that sort of thing. So what can they go for more information or to, you know, say they want to volunteer or whatever? Well, let's find out more, yes, prideportland.org. We also have a Facebook page. You can find us again by just, you know, searching Pride Portland. And then portmepride at gmail.com is our email. So you can find all that information, find out about all the events. You can buy tickets to the launch party and most of your questions will be answered there, or you can email us and ask us questions if you have particular questions. Great. Well, thank you. Thanks a lot and look forward to seeing this year's Pride Portland. Thanks a lot, Tom. Thanks for having us again.