Okay, I’m being sarcastic (but not really).
While some protestors showed up (I can’t remember if it was at the Terrace Park or at the Parade) they were quickly pushed away by love and song.
This year’s event by all accounts went off without a hitch, as it should. In fact the parade was full of love and positivity and a very large crowd turned out. The festival itself had record crowds and the most booths I have ever seen, which included banks, charities, travel agents, non-profits, youth organizations and CHURCHES!
The media did a great job this week promoting the event. While all 3 TV stations did stories on it, kudos goes to Stormland TV for countless stories about pride (I renamed them GAY TV this week).
The event organizers knocked it out of the park and should be commended.
But what was most fantastic about the event was it’s positivity. We can embrace diversity in our community. For a brief time this weekend whether I was at the Levitt, the parade or at the festival itself it put a big smile on my face to know that Sioux Falls has become more progressive, liberal and accepting while it seems the rest of the state is moving backwards. My running joke to friends over the weekend was, “You know, we live in a conservative state.” Could have fooled me. It’s the line of crap we hear over and over from our ‘supposed’ leaders, but I don’t see that in Sioux Falls, in fact I don’t see it in a lot of other major cities in South Dakota. There is a small number of whacky neo-con gun chucklers in our state that constantly bombard us with their message that we are a solid red state. While we do lean red, we are close to crossing that purple line (I think we already have). Don’t believe the ‘Red State Rhetoric’ we will eventually take back this state from the Fascist Red Baron Royalty who currently control Pierre, and sadly they won’t see it coming.