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Pride Weekend is Here!

Welcome to National LGBT Pride Month! Buffalo kicked off the month with a Pride flag-raising ceremony on June 1 at City Hall. The real celebrations start this weekend, though, with events both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will feature the Dyke March and the Allen Street Festival, and Sunday brings the Pride Parade and Festival in their new locations: Chippewa and Canalside.

Saturday, June 4

Dyke March and Allen Street Festival

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Buffalo Pride’s Dyke March. The March will kick off Pride 2011’s weekend festivities with a theme of “Don’t Let It Go Unsaid,” honoring the contributions Mother Ann Hubbard and other women in past and present LGBT communities. The Pride Center of WNY invites everyone to join the march, which will line up at 4pm and step off at 5pm from the parking lot of Belmont Shelter’s headquarters at 1195 Main Street at the corner of Dodge Street. The parade will turn west onto Summer Street, then south onto Elmwood Avenue.

After winding through historic Allentown district, the march ends with the Allen Street Festival between Franklin and North Pearl streets. The block party will feature music, as well as food and drink from local restaurants and bars.

Madeline Davis GLBT Archives of WNY at Karpeles Manuscript Museum

As part of Allentown’s First Friday gallery walk, Karpeles Manuscript Museum (220 North Street) will host a reception, 7-9pm, marking the exhibit of the Madeline Davis GLBT Archives of WNY. Davis, a tireless activist for human rights, likewise has been a tireless historian of Western New York’s gay history.

COLOR: A celebration of local LGBT art

464 Gallery (464 Amherst Street) celebrates Pride with an exhibit of work by LGBT artists, with an opening reception, 6-10pm.

Mr. and Ms. Gay Pride at Club Marcella

The pageantry begins at 8pm at Club Marcella (622 Main Street).

The Dykes of Hazard Present Vicki Shaw at the Ninth Ward

The Ninth Ward at Babeville (341 Delaware Avenue) hosts nationally touring comedian Vickie Shaw, courtesy of the Dykes of Hazard, Buffalo’s own lesbian comic road show. Doors open at 7pm, show starts at 8pm.

Sunday, June 5

Pride Parade and Pride Festival

Buffalo’s 2011 Pride Parade will enter new territory as it departs from its past route, no longer ending at Elmwood Avenue Bidwell Parkway, the grassy median of which has hosted all previous Pride Festivals. The parade, which lines up at 11am and steps off at 1pm, will kick off from the corner of Elmwood and Lafayette. It will head south this year, ending at Chippewa Street. There will be a float competition during the parade. From its end point on Chippewa, everyone is invited to take the NFTA train to the Pride Festival at Canalside, on downtown Buffalo’s historic waterfront.

The festival will feature live entertainment, food and gift vendors, a cash bar tent, and tables from local businesses and organizations. Families can visit the Family Activities Tent, which will have arts and crafts, face painting, and other projects for children and their parents.

More information on these events and more can be found at www.pridecenterwny.org, or by calling 852-7743.

ian carlino

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