2008 IS HERE!!

Well, another year has come and gone and I hardly noticed any slow-down. I am already planning our annual “Hottest Cowboy” contest for this coming February and the 5thannual GLBT Press Trip in April. Of course, the other constants are also in production, such as the 2008edition of the Voice of Pride which promises to be bigger and better than ever. And last, but not least, we are starting to plan the 2008 25th Anniversary Edition of the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade. Lots of things to do! So… let’s get started.

 

HOTTEST COWBOY CONTEST
Each year we hold a contest to find two very attractive, well-spoken and intelligent young men to accompany the Dallas contingency to the two major GLBT tourism conferences for that year. Those conferences are the IGLTA annual conference (in Las Vegas this year) and the Community Marketing International Tourism conference (in Vancouver, B.C. this year). The boys travel with us to help promote the city of Dallas and specifically the clubs of the Dallas Tavern Guild. They mingle at social receptions and events and work the trade shows and expos to help promote travel to Dallas. Our most recent trip to Ft. Lauderdale in December was a huge success and our two spokespersons were stellar in their representation of our city. The two representatives were Paul Haynes (left) and Matt Hey (right).

We had a great response to their efforts and actually got the host organization, IGLTA to come to Dallas to participate in the upcoming competition. It will be a gala cocktail party and then the contest on Wednesday, February 27th at the Round-up Saloon. I hope you will mark your calendars and come enjoy the evening with us.

 

THE VOICE OF PRIDE
This year we are ramping up the contest to include not only cash prize monies but also an awesome trip for two (round-trip airfare and hotel) to Europe. We are also revising our judging system for the semi-finals and finals in continuing efforts to make the competition as fair as possible for everyone. We will move to an Olympic system of scoring where we will have 7 judges instead of 5, but we will throw out the highest and lowest scores to reach a better general consensus of who is best. We think this is the best way to handle concerns about scoring, and as always, we will have the very best qualified people on our judging panels. The finalists from last year have been very supportive and continue to perform and promote the event at many local charitable events. The top three from last year are, (left to right); Julianna Jeffrey, 2nd runner-up; Randall Garland, winner; and Matt Brewer, 1st runner-up.

SPRING PRESS TRIP
This is the 5th year for our GLBT press trip and it has become one of the most important things we do for our city and our community. We have received hundreds of thousands of dollars of free publicity about Dallas, our GLBT community and our Tavern Guild member clubs. Each year, eight highly qualified travel writers from major publications from the US, Canada and Europe travel to Dallas to be shown our community and it’s great unity and how that is thoroughly integrated into the mainstream community. Each year they leave, completely amazed at the experience and repeated say, “I never expected to find any of this in Dallas”! Then, they write wonderful articles sharing their experiences with millions of GLBT readers around the globe and tell them that Dallas is indeed a great place to travel to. This kind of publicity would cost us millions of dollars, which we obviously don’t have but thanks to the cooperation of our city’s hotels, restaurants, attractions and our partners; the Dallas CVB, American Airlines, the North Texas GLBT Chamber, the Dallas Voice and the Dallas Tavern Guild we are able to create this event that wasn’t even an idea five years ago. I am most proud of this project and the visibility it has created for our city and more specifically, our community. I have included a couple photos from past trips.

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY ALAN ROSS TEXAS FREEDOM PARADE
This year we will celebrate the 25th year that the Dallas Tavern Guild has produced the annual pride parade and celebration in Lee Park. We are gearing up for a really special year and are busy planning what we hope will be the very best pride celebration ever. We will honor our past and celebrate our future as a GLBT community. I will be updating you with details as they are finalized, but be sure the Steering Committee and all the coordinators are hard at work to create the most memorable experience possible.

Well, that’s a lot to digest, but I wanted you to know that we are hard at work in many areas to keep Dallas in the minds and hearts of people all around the world. You can each do your part whenever you see someone you don’t recognize in our clubs, stores or restaurants. Introduce yourselves, ask if they are visiting and how they heard of our city. We have built our reputation on the human element. We don’t have lakes, mountains, or beaches but we do have the most important element in anyone’s vacation; wonderful, friendly, polite and helpful people. I thank you in advance for serving as ambassadors of good will for our city.

Until next time,