If you aren’t hip to Big Freedia yet, you need to fix that ASAP. The “Queen Diva” is widely known and credited for bringing bounce music out of the shadows of post-Katrina New Orleans (or NOLA) and into the national spotlight. From high profile music festivals like South by Southwest to cramped, sweaty bars in Brooklyn, Freedia has been spreading the gospel of bounce for years, and gaining new ass shaking disciples at pretty much every stop along the way.

Fresh off a plane from Brazil and just two days out from her show at Vinyl Music Hall, the IN caught up with Freedia and talked about Memorial Day parties, reality TV, NOLA music and, of course, ass shaking.

IN: You’re coming to Pensacola just in time to help kick-off our annual Memorial Day Weekend festivities. Have you ever been here for the party weekend?
Freedia: Not for Memorial Day, but I have been to Pensacola before. It’s been a while though.

IN: Do you think you’ll stay in town and check out the scene—maybe get into a little beach action on Saturday? Or one of the big circuit parties?
Freedia: That’s the plan—to stay the weekend, check it out and just do what I do.

IN: How would define bounce music to somebody who is completely in the dark?
Freedia: It’s up-tempo, with a lot of call and response. It’s definitely a unique NOLA cultural thing and I’m looking forward to bringing that New Orleans party to Florida this weekend.

IN: Do you think making your booty bounce is a skill that can be learned or just something you’re born with?
Freedia: Everybody can learn it. I always say, it takes practice and if you practice enough, practice will make perfect. If you really want to learn, I teach classes. Everybody has an ass and everybody can shake it if they want to.

IN: I was just reading an article about some things New Orleans was the first city to have, and it’s a pretty amazing list—opera, movie theaters, pharmacists and, of course, jazz. When do you think they’ll add bounce music to that illustrious list?
Freedia: It’s coming to that point now. We’ve got to keep on working at it, but it’s getting there. I’ve got a reality show coming out, so that’s one more thing I’m doing to help bring bounce to the world.

IN: Can you tell us anything about the reality show yet?
Freedia: Absolutely. It will be debuting on FUSE TV in the next couple of months. They’ve been on the road with me off and on for over six months. They were with me in Brazil—that was one of the last things they shot.

IN: You aren’t a stranger to TV. Can you tell us about the episode of HBO’s “Treme” you appeared on?
Freedia: It was shot during the day at The Duck Off. They hired all these extras and gave everybody cocktails. Once the music started it didn’t really matter what time it was, it turned into a real party.

IN: There’s good music in pretty much every nook and cranny of your hometown. Who are your favorite New Orleans’ artists (to listen to and/or work with)?
Freedia: Wow—there are so many. Frank Ocean. Galactic—who I love and work with all the time. Also a lot of the brass bands and musicians—like Hot 8 and Young Fellas. And of course, bounce artists like Katey Red and D.J. Jubille.

IN: Part of your name comes from a club that your mom used to own—Diva’s. Is that still around?
Freedia: No, that stopped a while back. That club is no longer around.

IN: When I started hearing buzz about Booty’s Street Food, I honestly thought you were pulling a Kermit Ruffins and opening up your own spot. I was wrong on that, but you did get to put a little Freedia spin on their bathroom—how did that happen?
Freedia: We actually shot there for the reality show—I mean what’s better than a place called Booty’s when you’re doing a show on Big Freedia? They learned I was interior decorator so they asked me to do decorate their bathroom—which is a thing they do there in rotation with artists. Of course, my theme was bootys at Booty’s. They loved it.

IN: How much of the art was done by you and how much of it was fan submissions?
Freedia: There were a few fan submissions, but it was mostly done by me.

IN: Speaking of interior design, now that you’ve officially blown up and are playing shows all over of the globe, do you still have time to devote to your day job?
Freedia: I’m pretty much full-time on the road now. But every time I’m home if there’s a job knocking on the door, I’m working.

IN: You decorated Ray Nagin’s office, right? What was that like?
Freedia: I did. Pretty much the entire time he was in office, I did work for him. It was amazing—I made so many connections that I wouldn’t have made any other way, you know?

IN: A lot of our readers got introduced to you at Hangout Fest last year and fell in love, so you’re going have some repeat customers Friday night. Can they expect anything different from a Freedia club show? That Hangout set was pretty early in the morning, especially for bouncing.
Freedia: I remember Hangout—that festival was awesome. I feel like Friday night more people will be drunk and more asses will revealed.

IN: At Hangout we couldn’t find your stuff at the merch table all weekend and you know everybody wanted those “100% Ass Certified” shorts after seeing the show. Are they going to be available at this show?
Freedia: Definitely.

BIG FREEDIA
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, May 24
WHERE: Vinyl Music Hall, 2 S. Palafox
COST: $15
DETAILS: vinylmusichall.com or bigfreedia.com

PARTIES ON THE MAINLAND

Emerald City
406 E. Wright St.
Thurs., May 23 – Mon., May 27
9 p.m. – 3 a.m. nightly
18+

This Gulf Coast premier gay dance bar is bringing a different theme to each night of the Memorial Day weekend festivities. DJ Jay-R and DJ Dewight Barkley provide alternating music entertainment through the weekend with lights by Shavar. The grand finale is a special Memorial Day edition of “Drink & Drown” Monday night. If you are looking to get a good parking spot or simply a jumpstart on the party, The Other Side Bar, situated just next door to the left, opens at 3 p.m. daily. For more information on the full lineup of nightly events, visit emeraldcitypensacola.com.

The Cabaret
101 S. Jefferson St.
Wed., May 22 – Mon., May 27
Times vary nightly
18+

Enjoy nightly fun and entertainment without a cover charge at your neighborhood gay bar. Memorial Weekend at The Cabaret kicks off on Wednesday with Trivia. Back to back performances by the Armorettes of Atlanta serve as the main feature Saturday and Sunday nights beginning at 10 p.m. Along with offering entertainment, this touring drag troupe has raised more than $2 million for HIV/AIDS support groups and services. This weekend’s shows benefit AIDS support group OASIS. For a full lineup of nightly events and times, follow The Cabaret on Facebook.

Vinyl Music Hall
2 S. Palafox

Big Freedia
Fri., May 24, 8 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
All Ages

You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the Queen of Bounce—Big Freedia—live and in the flesh, or until you’ve bounced right along with her. This New Orleans legend has been credited with popularizing the underground hip hop subgenre and booty shaking dance form that has become widely known as “bounce.” Tickets are $15. Advance tickets are available at vinylmusichall.com

Ladies Day Memorial Weekend
Sat., May 25, 4 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
18+

Ladies Day Memorial Weekend 2013 is an event formulated by a group of local promoters, instructors and musicians, with a goal of bringing together the local community for a celebration of music. Although geared toward the lesbian community, the event aims to include and welcome everyone. Tickets are $15. Advance tickets are available at vinylmusichall.com

PARTIES ON THE ISLAND

Park East
Located just a little more than a mile to the east of Portofino Island Resort on Pensacola Beach, Park East is your last stop before entering Gulf Islands National Seashore property. It’s a stop you can’t miss—especially this weekend. Park East amenities include a restroom and changing area, plus picnic pavilions and a lifeguard station. Most importantly, Park East acts as a central hub for the weekend, with parties brought to you by Emerald City.

Splash Beach Fest
Fri., May 24 – Sun. May 26
10 a.m. – 7 p.m. daily

Enjoy three uninterrupted days of fun in the sun at Splash Beach Fest. The free event includes plenty of music, bars, vendors, and beyond. Ice is available for purchase so you can keep your beverages nice and cold. An ATM is also accessible on site.

Wave Beach Party
Sat., May 25, 10 p.m. – 4 a.m.

If you aren’t worn out from the sun, you’re in luck, because Saturday night the party doesn’t stop. Instead, it goes all night. Saturday night, producer and DJ Roland Belmares brings an all-night dance party to Park East. Tickets are $50 and available for purchase online at memorialweekendpensacola.com.

For more information on the Park East parties and a list of helpful weekend reminders, hotel information and more, visit memorialweekendpensacola.com.

Sexacola Beach 2013
Capt’n Fun Beach Club
400 Quietwater Beach Road
Thurs., May 23 – Sun. May 26
8 p.m. – 3 a.m. nightly
18+

This weekend, the annual “Sexacola” event returns to Capt’n Fun Beach Club on Quietwater Boardwalk for its fourth year. Nightly events include wet T-shirt contests and cash giveaways. Special features include Thursday night’s kick off foam party, Friday night’s illuminated glow stick dance party (glow stick tip: green means single, red means taken), and a performance by the Ying Yang Twins on Saturday night. For a complete listing of nightly entertainment and ticket information, visit sexacolabeach.com.

Kristy Lee Presents: UnLeashed Music Festival 2013
Flounders Chowder House
800 Quietwater Beach Road
Thurs. – Sun., Schedule subject to change
​Ten years ago Alabama country singer Kristy Lee brought her guitar to Pensacola Beach and played an unadvertised show to roughly 800 friends and fans. Now the annual UnLeashed Music Festival brings in more than 8,500 attendees. This year Kristy Lee returns and welcomes Brandi Carlile and the Indigo Girls. Four-day General Admission passes are available for $105 including a service fee. Nightly tickets will be sold at the door based on availability. For more information and to purchase advance tickets, visit pensacolaunleashed.com.

Back to the Memorial Day Weekend 2013 Guide

by Lilia Del Bosque Oakey Whitehouse

It’s a topic that people don’t often talk about. But HIVevolution wants to start the conversation.

The local non-profit is an HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention program, which provides education, free and confidential HIV testing, outreach, resource linkage and advocacy services to affected individuals in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties.

On June 1, HIVevolution is presenting “Breaking Down the Walls—Broadway Style.” The event will bring together Pensacola’s Performing Arts community to bring awareness and raise funds for a cause that’s too often pushed into the shadows.

“We are a community based organization in downtown Pensacola,” said Kimberly Brill, Outreach Coordinator for HIVevolution. “We started to think: If we could utilize our resources around us, which is our art community, what could we do?”

Patrick Rogers, the Director of HIVevolution and an ordained minister has, as an advocate, witnessed the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS.

“HIV doesn’t discriminate—but people do,” said Rogers.

He hopes that an event featuring Pensacola’s many arts organizations will be a bridge from stigma to understanding for the community.

“As an ordained minister, I noticed, in a church setting, that what bridges the gaps is music,” Rogers said. “You might have differences but when people start singing, they all come together. And the performing arts do that.”

“A lot people don’t even think HIV exist in our area. They think it exists only in big cities, but there are thousands of cases,” he said.

In fact, Escambia County has as many per capita HIV-positive individuals as Miami-Dade County.

“It’s shocking,” adds Brill, “I don’t know that many people think about how it touches our community, but our numbers are high.”

Which makes awareness and prevention all the more important.

Jerry Ahillen, Artistic Director of the Pensacola Little Theater and Director of the event, is excited to bring the first community wide arts collaboration. For the event, Ahillen has enlisted help from performers from the Pensacola Opera, Ballet Pensacola, Pensacola Shakespeare Theatre, Pensacola Little Theatre and other organizations from the Pensacola Performing Arts community.

“The event is more than collaboration,” said Ahillen, “each performance is a collaboration. It will be a mix of art. So there might a dance with a soloist singing and a monologue that leads to a flute soloist that leads back to the monologue.”

The event is more than a series of performances, it tells a story about the HIV community, bringing awareness and breaking down the walls of communication.

“The performances each have a story to tell that goes along with the subject matter,” said Ahillen. “There are so many wonderful things, it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.”

“It’s about our stories,” adds Brill. “HIV is not the death sentence it used to be. These days, it’s a celebration that people are living and middle ground to honor the people that have passed. The road has been long and hard but people are living very full lives.”

The event also raises funds to support HIVevolution outreach efforts, which, Rogers said, are a dire need in the community.

“Socially, HIV is different than other diseases; it’s more than just raising money for a cure,” said Rogers. “What other disease can you think of that, when you tell your family your diagnoses, you get kicked out on the street? Could you imagine someone that got diagnosed with cancer, that happening? We would never, ever think about doing that to someone with another serious illness. But with HIV, that happens.”

“It’s just such an amazing thing to talk about HIV like this and to offer this support,” said Ahillen. “When I was growing up, there wasn’t a life. If you had HIV, that was it. You didn’t talk about it, there was no fundraising for it, there was nothing for it. And now to be at the stage where we can say, ‘You know what, we need to let people know that there is a way to deal with it, that there is help, that there is an outlook that is brighter than a death sentence,’ is just a wonderful thing.”

BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS—BROADWAY STYLE
WHEN: Saturday, June 1, 6:30 for drinks and dessert and show starts at 8 p.m.
WHERE: Pensacola Little Theater, 400 S. Jefferson St.
COST: $20-$100, includes two complimentary drinks and dessert
DETAILS: HIVevolution.org

All This Crap for Rick Springfield?

For the past year, the city of Pensacola’s Neighborhood Services Department has managed the Community Maritime Park. Outside the bounds of the Blue Wahoos’ baseball season, it has been a year full of boat shows, Zumba classes, private weddings and drive-in movies.

The park’s official grand opening, featuring a performance by the Charlie Daniels Band, could be viewed as a high-water mark on the events calendar. According to Neighborhood Services’ Kim Carmody, that may be the most we should expect—more formidable acts apparently won’t be interested in dates at the waterfront facility.

“They’re going to be either up-and-comers or has-beens,” Carmody said. “We’re not going to be able to get your—I can’t think of a popular—J.J. L-Cool [sic] or Madonna, those are millions and millions of dollars, but you know, maybe Rick Springfield would come out, great ‘80s band, but that’s who we’re going to be able to get out there.”

Carmody made her entertainment forecast during a presentation to the Community Maritime Park Associates Board of Trustees. The board, however, was more interested in the how than the who.

“We feel like mushrooms,” CMPA member John Merting told Carmody, “we’re fed B.S. and we’re kept in the dark, and that’s not very beneficial.”

Specifically, CMPA members raised concerns about how the city was going about securing the services of a venue management company. And about an increasingly murky chain of command.

Several months ago, the CMPA voted to put out a Request for Proposals for the management of the park. Instead, city staff decided to enter into negotiations with one specific company.

“We opted out of the RFP for various reasons,” Carmody said, explaining that the city was choosing to negotiate with a management company that already has a footprint in the area and would be able to offer up alternative, indoor local venues in the event of rain.

Although everyone in the room seemed to already know the subtext of the conversation, Carmody refused to reveal the name of the company the city is negotiating with. It would eventually slip out between the lines—the negotiations are with SMG, which already manages the Saenger Theater for the city, as well as the Pensacola Bay Center for Escambia County.

SMG also responded to the CMPA’s original RFP for management services, but was passed over in favor of the city.

“I’m still a little confused about the RFP issue,” said CMPA member Dr. Samuel Bolden. “We’ve given you a directive on one thing, and you’ve come back and said, ‘We’ve done this and this.’ It looks as though you’re overstepping what we’ve asked you to do.”

Other board members agreed, but CMPA Executive Director Ed Spears—also a city employee—contended that the city had the right to forgo the RFP and enter into negotiations. He also stated that the city was not negotiating a new contract—which would not be kosher—but was instead looking to expand an existing contract.

CMPA Treasurer Jim Reeves was curious how exactly this went down. How could the CMPA’s directive for an RFP seemingly evaporate?

“So, why did we change about whether we wanted an RFP or not?” Reeves asked. “I’m talking about ‘we,’ now, not the city staff.”

“That’s a really good question,” Carmody answered. “I don’t think you did change the mandate—or, the ‘request’—but the interpretation of the contract is that we don’t necessarily, um, how we arrive at the conclusion, which is we want concerts in the amphitheater—”

Reeves interrupted and pushed for an answer. He wanted a name.

“As your agent, it would be me, it would be on my shoulders,” Carmody said.

Reeves poked a little more, just for fun, again requesting an RFP. Carmody’s smile tightened, she paused and took a deep breath. With the CMPA already one of this season’s favorite political piñatas—the city council is currently considering retooling the park board—this was akin to tap dancing through a mine field.

“I understand that you want an RFP,” she said. “And I clearly hear what you’re saying. But, the reality is, I’m not sure—as we’re interpreting the contract—that that is a possibility. We’ve done the research; we’re not doing anything that’s illegal, unethical. We’re following the guidelines, we’re following the policies, we’re going through the proper steps, checks and balances, and so nothing is being done that is shady, that is wrong.”

“What made you change your mind on the RFP, and to negotiate with the mystery promoter?” Reeves plodded on.

Carmody said “multiple conversations with multiple promoters,” as well as the desire to move quickly to begin slating concerts at the park had driven the decision.

“They’re not knocking down our door to jump in,” she explained. “The pressure, from here as well as from the community, they want to see things in the park, they want to see things happening in the park. Basically we went from A to B in the quickest possible way. They’re a reputable company, they do a good job, they have the resources, they have the manpower, it’s a win-win.”

Board members, however, said the move showed a lack of transparency and described it as “bad business.” As a snapshot, it’s illustrative of the unraveling nature of the relationship between the city and the CMPA—a wild ride that might well end, as Reeves put it, with the Pensacola City Council’s designs to “invite us to Palafox and Garden and have a big firing.”

“All we can do is vote and pass motions,” summed up Merting, “and if the people that we work with thumb their nose at us, that’s what they’re going to do.”

Dos and Don’ts for Memorial Day Weekend

Do:
Remember that song “Wear Sunscreen”? Just do it. Apply before you leave home and reapply every 30 minutes. No, SPF 4 does not count. No, tanning oil doesn’t count either. Bonus points if you can recruit someone to help you with this task.

Drink water… and then drink more water.

Carpool out to the beach from town—don’t waste any more precious sunshine waiting on the Three Mile Bridge than you have to.

Plan on being at the beach at 6 a.m. or bring your bicycle and be prepared to park your car halfway to Navarre.

Have a designated driver if you are drinking.

Spend a night under the stars—just get a group of friends, a beach blanket and let the sound of crashing waves and dance music lull you to sleep.

Pack a cooler with frozen water bottles and your beverages of choice—remember aluminum and plastic only.

Make new friends. Go talk to that tent full of Auburn/Alabama/Florida/Florida State fans.

Make a meet-up plan if you get separated from your friends—don’t trust this to a phone that could take an accidental dip in the Gulf.

Try a Bushwhacker, that delicious milkshake-y drink that calls Pensacola home.

Eat like a local—try some raw oysters, fresh gulf shrimp, crab, or some beer from Pensacola Bay Brewery.

Don’t
Ever say “Sexacola.” Just, no.

Leave cigarette butts—or any trash—on the beach. Please and thank you.

Go topless without copious amounts of sunscreen. Trust us on this.

Miss seeing downtown Pensacola while you’re here—get across the bridge and discover another Pensacola.

Swim out farther than you feel comfortable—rip tide can take you far out quickly, play it safe.

Back to the Memorial Day Weekend 2013 Guide

An Insider’s Look at Memorial Day Weekend

Step onto Pensacola Beach’s sugary white sand this weekend and you are guaranteed to see a colorful formation of flags flying high, flying proud. For many, Memorial Day weekend is one massive ongoing, uninhibited party. And one that kicks off well before the weekend officially begins. But more than that, and for the majority of individuals, the celebration is a time of community and togetherness.

Throughout the weekend, some flock toward the party circuits, complete with sweat drenched, dance hungry bodies packed tightly together leaving barely enough room to breathe, yet still enough space to dance. Others prefer a more low-key experience, camped out at the beach, floating in the emerald waters by day with a drink (or two, or three) in hand, and hopping along to beach bars after the sun sets.

The weekend means something slightly different to everyone who partakes, which is the freedom, and the beauty in it. Still, many have their favorite go-to activities. And since we just had to know what these activities are, we asked a few locals to sound off and give us an insider’s look, to help us determine who does Memorial Day Weekend best—the ladies, or the gentlemen. Let’s start with the gentlemen.

The Gentlemen

“The beach is a major attraction for Memorial Day weekend,” said bartender Chris Peterson. “There is nothing like friendly attitudes and a diverse crowd that takes full advantage of our beaches. Gay or straight—you will not have a bad time.”

As a bartender at both Emerald City and Portofino Island Resort, Peterson finds himself right in the middle of the weekend’s action.

“You can’t miss the ‘Wave’ party located at Park East on the beach Saturday night,” he said. “Dancing under the stars with an amazing light show and entertainment? Count me in.”

The celebration doesn’t stop when you leave the beach. Downtown Pensacola’s high energy dance bar Emerald City serves as a primary hub for the weekend. And for those looking to avoid the party circuit and associated cover charges, surrounding locales offer plenty of alternatives.

“I think of Memorial Day Weekend as sort of a homecoming for friends, so we tend to go where the locals go,” said Joshua Jones. “The Round Up and The Cabaret are our usual go-to hot spots for the weekend.”

Jones considers himself a veteran, having been a Memorial Day weekend participant for just shy of a decade. For Jones, the weekend can be best described as, “Reuniting, sunshine and memories.”

Ask any weekend veteran what the key is to having a successful experience and they will tell you that first comes hydration, followed immediately by sunscreen.

“Hydrate—it’s a marathon, not a race,” said Justin McCoy. “Also, lather up with at least SPF 30 sunscreen and reapply because ain’t nobody got time for sun poisoning and premature aging.”

While those may be keys to success and necessities to avoid suffering, McCoy explains that flexibility is also a must have.

“I like to be flexible,” said Justin McCoy. “On the holiday weekend, I make an effort to be a social butterfly that easily flits from an intimate dinner to a packed dance floor.”

Like many others, McCoy plans on starting his weekend downtown, before making his way out to the beach.

“I will start off the weekend with my booty-shaking friends at the Big Freedia concert at Vinyl Music Hall on Friday night,” said McCoy. “Then I expect to spend most of my time at the beach, where I’ll celebrate pride by enjoying some sunshine, crystal-clear water, drinks, and good company.”

The Ladies

The gentlemen won’t be the only ones shaking it this weekend. There will be no shortage of ladies trying to keep up with Big Freedia’s vivacious bounce moves at Vinyl Friday night—and yes, I am counting myself in this list. But overall, the ladies are opting for a more relaxed weekend, spending time with old friends, while making new ones.

Unleashed Music Festival at Flounders Chowder House on Pensacola Beach notoriously draws in a crowd, and this year’s lineup is an especially hot topic of conversation.

“Two words: Brandi Carlile! Wait! Two more words: Indigo Girls!” exclaimed Sarah Everhart. “Flounders is where it’s at this year.”

Everhart prefers a mix of weekend activities, with some down time in between.

“I enjoy partying with new and old friends but I personally know only a few people that can seriously stand to have a five-day nonstop bender,” said
Everhart. “I’ve got to have some down time for sure. I don’t think I’m the only one. Am I?”

She’s not. Jenny Diamond agrees and also suggests that a giant flotation device is the way to go to relax and beat the heat during the day. And by giant flotation device, she means eight-person inner tube with seats, drink holders and even a sand anchor.

“Friends and strangers will swim up, jump on, and hang out for a bit. It’s a fun way to meet people,” she said.

Diamond affirms the weekend to not only be about the party atmosphere, but about friendship and above all, community.

“Despite the vast array of fun shenanigans to attend, watch, or participate in, I prefer a more relaxed time with friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends,” said Diamond. “Don’t get me wrong, a lot of it is about partying, but in my experience, the weekend is mainly about celebrating community in the most open, unapologetic way possible.”

Although still a newcomer to the weekend, Kimberly Hammoc shares the same collective enthusiasm.

“It is the one time of year I don’t feel like a minority,” said Hammoc. “It is refreshing to see people being open and happy being themselves in such a large crowd.”

The Winner

Ultimately, when asked how to best sum up the weekend in three words, it all came back to the idea of “something for everyone.”
And so the winner is? That remains up for discussion, and left for you to decide. Regardless of gender, orientation, experience level, or anything else under the sun, there seems to me to exist an all-around tie, which is also the freedom and the beauty in it. All things are created equal after all.

Back to the Memorial Day Weekend 2013 Guide

The IN decided to get in on the action this year. Our first ever Memorial Day Weekend guide has a calendar of events complete with a helpful map, the low-down on how locals do it and coffee talk with a local drag legend. We also decided to do some digging and uncover the historical roots of the weekend and explore some of the urban legends we’ve heard over the years—like the infamous “gay money stamp.”

Speaking of gay money—we got into the numbers and explored the economic impact this weekend has for our local economy. We thought that was important—especially this summer since everybody is freaking out over losing the annual Blue Angel Air Show on the beach. You might be surprised by the numbers and how closely the Memorial Day festivities rival that event, even though it’s less documented and touted by local officials.

So whether you’re from out of town and looking for the best way to get from point A to point B or a local looking for a better understanding and appreciation of this economic boom we get every May, this issue has something for you.  Enjoy!

Queer and Here: The Long History of Gay Tourists on Pensacola Beach
Legends, Myths and Questions Unanswered
Gay Money: The Uncertain Economics of Memorial Day Weekend on the Beach
The Economics of Acceptance
Ladies and Gentlemen—An Insider’s Look at Memorial Day Weekend
Memorial Day Weekend Event Lineup
In Observance
Sightseeing You Can Write Home About
Travel Smart, Arrive Safe
Coffee Talk with Lauren Mitchell
Do It Like A Local

It doesn’t matter how you are getting there. The important thing is that you are traveling smart so that you arrive at each and every one of your destinations safely. Here are a few transportation suggestions to help you while you are out and about this holiday weekend.

Trolley Time
Catch a ride on the beach trolley to avoid driving or lengthy treks up and down the beach. Escambia County Area Transit (ECAT) provides free seasonal trolley service on Santa Rosa Island. Trolley service kicks off this weekend and runs every 30 minutes, from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. To learn more and to download a trolley route map, visit goecat.com/routes.

For live trolley tracking, check out visitpensacolabeach.com/trolleytracker.

Jump on It
If you are looking for a ride from downtown out to the beach this weekend, or vice versa, jump on the ECAT Route 64 Beach Jumper. You can catch the bus downtown at the stop located at the corner of Jefferson and Garden streets, just a short walk from the Pensacola Bay Center and surrounding parking lots. Casino Beach Pavilion serves as the Beach Jumper pickup and drop-off location on the beach. For the complete route schedule, map and fare information, visit goecat.com/routes.

Seeing Yellow
While there is a long list of cab companies in Pensacola, Yellow Cab of Pensacola just so happens to have the easiest phone number to store in your memory bank. If you can only remember one phone number this weekend—emergency numbers aside, let it be (850) 433-3333. Open 24 hours, seven days a week, Yellow Cab drivers are available to pick you up downtown, on the beach or wherever you find yourself, and will take you safely to your next stop.

Expert Tip—Hailing a taxicab is fun, but this isn’t New York City, y’all. In order to get cab service, it’s best to first place a call and let the cab driver know where you can be found. Then you must stay there and wait for pickup. I know it’s tempting, but try not to meander away.

Flying In
If you are flying into Pensacola International Airport this weekend, there are several companies ready and waiting to help you hit the ground running, whether you are starting off downtown, or heading straight out to the beach. Island Time Shuttle is available 24/7 to provide airport shuttle service to and from hotels, resorts and other weekend destinations. For more information, visit islandtimeshuttle.com. For shuttle quotes and reservations, call (850) 686-9741.

Several area hotels offer courtesy car transportation to and from the airport. For a complete listing of ground transportation options, visit flypensacola.com.

Pedal Faster
If you find yourself growing tired while walking about downtown this weekend, or just want to move a bit faster but have no more kick left in your step, hop in a pedicab. Gulf Coast Pedicabs is a bicycle taxi tourist service, available to transport two or three customers at a time. Although they pedal for free, they survive on tips so be sure to have a fistful of cash on hand to thank them for pedaling your tired self. Visit facebook.com/gulfcoastpedicabs for more information, and be sure to look for them on the streets of downtown this weekend.

Back to the Memorial Day Weekend 2013 Guide

By Jessica Forbes

On Memorial Day weekend, a remote stretch of Pensacola Beach is widely known as a destination for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) visitors for the first three-day beach holiday of the year.

When speaking with members of the local LGBT community, one quickly learns that Memorial Day is not a Pride event—rather it is a gathering of vacationers, who happen to be LGBT, that follows a tradition that began when broad, mainstream acceptance of the gay community was nearly nonexistent.

Though most locals are aware of the LGBT parties on the beach, some people may be surprised that incarnations of holiday weekend parties on the beach date back to at least the 1960s. From the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s, Fourth of July weekend, not Memorial Day, was a time that gay men began congregating in Pensacola for a community vacation.

Who is Emma Jones?

Emma Jones, though not a real person, played a significant role in the history of gay rights in Pensacola.

A benevolent invention of Ray and Henry Hillyer, Emma was devised to help curb harassment of the city’s gay citizens and eventually became the host of the first Pensacola LGBT beach parties.

Ray and Henry moved from their native Texas to Pensacola in the early 1950s, after graduating from college. Ray had been stationed at Hurlburt Field while serving in the U.S. Air Force and decided to settle in Pensacola permanently.

The couple thrived professionally in the city. A trained ballet dancer, Ray worked as an artist for St. Regis Paper Company for over 30 years. Henry, a graphic designer, worked in the Display and Design Department of Gayfers Department Store.

Both men were heavily involved with the Pensacola Little Theater and Elvie DeMarco School of Ballet, designing costumes and sets for those organizations as well as several of the city’s Fiesta of Five Flags and Mardi Gras krewes.

“The Hillyers were very well connected and had friends throughout the South,” recounts Jay Watkins, a Ph.D. candidate at King’s College in London.

Currently preparing to defend his dissertation titled, “Hot Times on the Gay Gulf Coast: Queer Networks and Cruising Through North Florida’s Spaces, 1945-1965,” Watkins began researching the history of his native Northwest Florida’s LGBT community while working on a Master’s Degree at Georgia State.

“The Emma Jones Society was originally set up in order to receive homosexual publications through the mail and to connect with national publications and discourses. It was a book club of sorts,” said Jay Watkins.

Joshua Jones, a local attorney, spoke with the Hillyers in 2008 as part of an LGBT history initiative through Gay Grassroots of Northwest Florida. Together for over 50 years, Ray died in 2010 and Henry followed less than a year later in 2011.

“In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, that’s when all the male physique magazines started coming out and the Mattachine Society was sending out publications,” said Jones.

The Mattachine Society was the first major gay rights organization in the U.S. Founded in 1950 in Los Angeles, the society began publishing a magazine titled, “ONE,” in 1953. The magazine and the society soon after became the subject of an FBI investigation from 1953 to 1956.

The Hillyers told Jones that they heard that the local Post Office was keeping a list of men receiving the publications and sharing the list with the police, who in turn would target and harass those on the list.

In response, the couple established a post office box under the fictitious, nondescript name of Emma Jones. The P.O. Box became a gateway for communications from the national gay community into Pensacola.

“In Northwest Florida there was an underground network of men that would have house parties all across the Gulf Coast,” said Jones. The Emma Jones Society (EJS) developed when, “Once a month, their lady friend from New Orleans would come over and check the box, and they would all meet at the guys’ house and share the materials.”

In the early 1950s, the couple told Jones, there were no homosexual organizations or even gay bars where the community could connect in Pensacola. EJS was the Hillyers’ solution for bringing the gay community together.

“The only way they knew any other gay people was that—I mean, sadly—gay men would meet for sex in the park, and through those connections they became friends,” as Jones remembers the Hillyers describing life before groups like EJS. “Obviously nobody wants that dark history, but the reality is that’s how it was in those days. Unfortunately that’s still how it is today for men who are in the closet.”

After a couple of years of developing connections through EJS, the society members decided to organize further, and throw a Fourth of July party.

Emma Jones and the Fourth of July

EJS beach parties began in the 1960s. “Even they couldn’t remember if the first Fourth of July party was ‘64 or ‘65,” said Jones of the Hillyers’ recollections of the early events.

“They sent out invitations to 50 people and they said 100 people showed up,” said Jones. The gathering started as a very small beach party, but “It kept growing and growing and growing until they turned it into a weekend long event that they held at the San Carlos.”

Jay Watkins came across mentions of the EJS throughout the Southeast. “Several men from Panama City who I interviewed discussed the society and the beach parties in the 1970s. Also, whilst conducting research at the Atlanta History Center, I came across invitations to the parties as well.”

The “conventions” at the Hotel San Carlos occurred at least as early as 1968. The event grew to include multiple beach excursions and a variety of shows such as a female impersonator revue, a Mr. U.S. Gay Contest, and musical performances in the hotel ballroom.

Newspaper accounts state that in 1972 an estimated 2,000 “homosexuals … from all parts of the country” attended Emma Jones’ four-day Fourth of July event at the Hotel San Carlos, which was prominently located at the intersection of Garden and Palafox streets until its demolition in 1993.

In their interviews, Jones says the Hillyers told him, “It all fell apart because they started getting death threats. It was a backlash from the ministers in town, the city council members.”

Watkins says articles he encountered in his research indicate that in the mid-1970s, “Pensacola authorities were none too pleased that Pensacola had become the gay capital of the South. So they initiated a crackdown on the most recognizable sites of gay communities in the hopes of cleaning up the city’s image.”

The Hillyers believed the primary reason the Fourth of July party went on for so long was their friendships with society women involved in Fiesta and Mardi Gras organizations. “Those women sort of kept their husbands at bay to protect Ray and Henry,” the couple told Jones.

The last EJS convention occurred in 1975.

“I think those core people that started it remained friends, but at that point, gay life was so different than it had been in the ‘50s. There wasn’t a need for the secret or private post office box,” said Jones.

After 1975, friendships forged in the EJS likely continued. A gathering of former EJS compatriots may have simply morphed into the Memorial Day weekend party that has grown since then.

Reinvented in the ‘80s

It was not long after the EJS conventions ended, many have heard, that the three-day Memorial Day weekend became the common holiday for LGBT vacationers to meet up.

Liz Watkins, a locally-based television and video documentary producer, moved to Pensacola from New Orleans in 1982. The first year she went to the beach on Memorial Day weekend was 1986, and hundreds of LGBT visitors congregated near what is now Park East.

Some have heard the gatherings began when two men invited friends from Atlanta in for the weekend in the 1970s; others that locals invited friends from South Florida up, and the next year that group brought a busload of friends, and it grew from there.

The undeveloped, private beaches of Gulf Islands National Seashore were evidently a draw regardless of where from the first groups hailed.

“I guess they figured it was a nice place to go out on a beautiful, pristine beach and have nobody bother them, being a group of gay guys,” said Ted McCrary, manager of Emerald City.

“That stretch of beach has a long-standing reputation as a ‘gay beach’ because of its remoteness,” Jay Watkins has found, adding, “In a time of increased scrutiny or moral panic, it is easier to be openly gay in places that are far removed from surveillent authorities or nosy neighbors.”

Liz Watkins remembers the specific directions given in the days before GPS units. “Before Park East existed, there used to be a small, brown National Park sign. You went exactly two miles past it, and that’s what was considered the LGBT beach. So it was roughly another mile past Park East, originally, closer to Navarre.”

McCrary’s friends told him that the Pensacola Beach party had been going on for a couple of years when he first came over from New Orleans in 1988 or 1989, “and it was already huge,” he recalled.

At that time, mom-and-pop hotels and the Holiday Inn were the primary lodging available on the beach. “We didn’t really have condos out on the beach in the ‘80s,” Liz Watkins said.

“We came over here and rented a house for a week, partied all weekend, kind of relaxed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then went home,” said McCrary, “It was great.”

Paul Dye, who has owned downtown’s Cabaret since 2009, first heard about the LGBT party on Memorial Day weekend in the late ‘80s-early ‘90s while living in Kentucky. “I heard about it at work from somebody who had a friend who came back.”

“Everything was word-of-mouth, we didn’t have social media. The internet was just kicking off,” Dye recalls.

“In the gay community especially, even before social media, things were word-of-mouth and they’d spread like wildfire,” said McCrary, “I doubt that there’s a gay person within 1,000 miles of Pensacola that doesn’t know this goes on.”

“I knew that there was a big event, but didn’t know how big it was until I came down and saw it for myself,” said Dye, who moved to Pensacola in 2005.

Building Steam—and Opposition—in the ‘90s

As the number of visitors on the beach grew in the late 1980s and early 1990s parties in town began to grow, also.

Lauren Mitchell, an entertainer at Emerald City, has lived in Pensacola since 1987 and remembers the early 1990s being the biggest years for the club on Wright Street—then called The Office—when there weren’t many parties by outside promoters. “That’s when we first got a permit to have the street blocked off. This used to be a scuba dive shop, and so in the first years when she [owner Sherry Odom] had The Office, we had a pool. That was great for Memorial Day weekend.”

McCrary agreed, remembering from his desk in Emerald City, “In 1989 when I first started coming, this entire building was a sweatbox, she had so many people in here. It was fantastic.”

The Office “was very much part of the history of getting gays and lesbians accepted in Pensacola in the early 1990s,” said Liz Watkins. “We got really active in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s.”

Unfortunately, the activity was due to increased incidents of targeted vandalism and ire.

“We started to have people really rowdy against the gays and lesbians Memorial Day,” said Watkins who remembers people dumping nails on the road leading to the LGBT beach and protestors “screaming horrible stuff.”

In 1993, when a WEAR report dubbed Pensacola “The Gay Riviera,” some local officials became concerned that the event would ruin the perception of Pensacola as a “family friendly” destination. The City Council passed a resolution that October espousing the city’s dedication to “the propagation of traditional family values.”

Some local citizens also complained to city officials about events in town. Odom met with opposition when trying to obtain a permit to close the street in front of The Office for parties in 1994. Eventually, Odom reached a compromise with the city and obtained the permit, after hiring an attorney.

The opposition seemed illogical and unwarranted to many, particularly considering the amount of money LGBT tourists infused into the local economy over the Memorial Day weekend.

“We had all of our friends coming in—we’re paying the toll at the bridge, filling up 18 coolers with beer, water, Coca-Cola, food… we’re spending a lot of money,” said Watkins. “That’s when we fought back. We started stamping the money.”

The mid-1990s was the first time so-stamped “gay money” appeared.

“Suddenly this money started flooding all through Pensacola,” said McCrary, “and people started getting the picture: this is a huge boon to the season starting up.”

On the Circuit

Despite the difficulty with some locals, the LGBT Memorial Day events grew throughout the 1990s. With the increasing popularity came increasingly huge events, putting Pensacola on the circuit party map.

“By 1994, people talked about crowds of 20 to 30 thousand,” remembers Liz Watkins. “Johnny Chisholm is a business man, and he saw that he could make money, and then several other people saw they could make money, too.”

Johnny Chisholm, who now owns Emerald City, and McCrary first produced a Memorial Day weekend party in Pensacola in 1995, before hurricanes Erin and Opal. Chisholm did not own a bar in Pensacola at the time but coordinated the first event—held in a warehouse on Gregory Street that has since been demolished—from New Orleans, where his bar Oz was a success.

When two out-of town promoters abandoned their parties at the Civic Center and Bayfront Auditorium after the 1995 storms, Chisholm and McCrary stepped in and took over the events.

After The Office, briefly named College Station, closed, Chisolm purchased the club in 1998, renaming it Emerald City (EC). Being locally-based, the EC team began expanding weekend party offerings to the point that before Hurricane Ivan the bar produced 11 different parties both in town and on the beach.

According to McCrary, the LGBT Memorial Day event, “was absolutely at its biggest in 2001 through 2004, just completely out of control. We were working around the clock back then,” also producing a visitor’s guide in addition to parties from 2000 through 2006.  McCrary said the Sunday night parties at the Civic Center alone drew 3,000 to 4,000 people.

Hurricane Ivan cut back on the numbers of “What we term the ‘Circuit Boys’:  those are the guys who are fairly affluent and travel to all the big parties around the country,” said McCrary.  “Actually the big promotion parties were just mainly for those guys. It didn’t take anything away from the crowd that had always been coming to the clubs. In some cases, it added to it a little.”

After Bayfront Auditorium was demolished in 2005, EC negotiated with SRIA to hold their Saturday night party at Park East, where it still occurs as the WAVE Beach Party and draws approximately 1,500 guests at $50 a person.

“The oil spill was like the one-two punch,” said McCrary of efforts to reinvigorate the large numbers of circuit parties. “Really the big things in those years that hampered our building it back up were the giant strides we made at Disney in 2004 to 2007.”

The EC team has produced since 1994 parties at Disney World’s Gay Days, which is typically the weekend after Memorial Day. After Hurricane Ivan, the number of their parties there jumped, said McCrary. “People were starting to have to decide if they were going to go to one or the other.”

While the number and crowd size of Pensacola’s circuit parties may not have bounced back to pre-Ivan numbers, LGBT tourists are still visiting the beach on Memorial Day weekend en masse.

“What it’s come to now is kind of what it was in the mid-‘80s or so where it’s a drive-in event for people from New Orleans, East Texas over to Jacksonville, Atlanta, Orlando, Arkansas,” McCrary has observed. “We still have huge numbers, upwards of 50,000 people.”

Moving Forward

While attendance is strong, some have noticed changes to the overall makeup of the LGBT Memorial Day weekend crowd.

“I honestly think that it has become more of a lesbian event than a gay event,” Jones stated. “Anecdotally when you’re on the beach, there are more women now than there used to be. It used to be completely dominated by men, but I think that’s turned around in the last five or six years.”

The growth of events like the UnLeashed Music Festival at Flounders—a primarily “girl” event—support Jones’ observations. Founded a little over 10 years ago, UnLeashed has had an estimated 8,500 people in attendance over the weekend in recent years.

Just as the demographics of the event appear to have evolved so too have relationships with some units of local government. McCrary says the city “has been very good working with us” on permitting requests despite having “some headaches from it,” such as a church that protests at EC every year and files complaints with the city for letting them close the street.

Of the critics McCrary says, “They can’t show any evidence that it’s a problem on any level. So usually you’re just left with, ‘We don’t like you.’ That’s really what it boils down to and really we don’t get much of that.”

Buck Lee, who has been the SRIA executive director for eight years, says he remembers one arrest at an LGBT event during his tenure. For the most part, “no one is out of hand, everyone is well-behaved.”

“Our clientele tends to try to take care of the places they stay and be appreciative. Much smaller events out there seem to cause a lot more trouble,” said McCrary of the beach events.

Lee also noted the Park East beaches are usually left nearly pristine.

“We have a fantastic relationship with the Santa Rosa Island Authority,” said McCrary. “When they get these big crowds, they always worry.”

To minimize concerns, EC pays to provide two large dumpsters and between 40 and 50 port-o-lets at Park East, where facilities are minimal. “We do that for them, because they allow us to have our parties.”

A standing tradition of donating to benefit charities—started by the White Heat Foundation in the early 1990s—continues. For the second year, Cabaret will hold benefit shows, with proceeds going to Okaloosa AIDS Support & Informational Services (OASIS). The Order of Zeus, a predominantly gay Mardi Gras krewe is the benefit charity for a number of EC’s parties.

And so, the decades long Memorial Day weekend event rolls on.

Stocking his bar early one afternoon, Dye paused a moment to reflect on what it is about the weekend that continues to draw LGBT visitors to the beach.

“It was probably initially founded—and this is just personal opinion—on reuniting,” said Dye. “There are a lot of people in this business that I see that move on with their lives—Pensacola was a college stepping stone, things like that—but it’s almost guaranteed that weekend that we can see a lot of old friends.”

Such news would likely be music to Emma Jones’ ears.

Back to the Memorial Day Weekend 2013 Guide

Sunday, May 26 at 1 p.m. the Pensacola Veterans Memorial Park Foundation hosts its annual observance of Memorial Day at Veterans Memorial Park. Mr. Mike Esmond is this year’s special guest of honor. Mr. Esmond served with the United States Army, on landing craft transporting soldiers into battle. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War and the first Vietnam draftee to speak at the park.

“Pensacola is a military town. With all the excitement, Memorial Day is whenever [we remember] the soldiers that have passed,” said Paul Dye, owner of The Cabaret. “It’s important to remember the prior military losses… we’re a country at war. There’s a lot that gets lost in the translation of holidays, period. You’ve got to step back and remember.”

The public is encouraged to attend the observance ceremony and bring along blankets or lawn chairs. Veterans Memorial Park is located in downtown Pensacola on Bayfront Parkway, at the southernmost point of Ninth Avenue.

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