FROM THE STREETS!

PRIDE ON VACATION
Seems the recession, mediocre weather and an uninspiring summer has effected peoples moods for celebrating and enjoying their pride and heritage in big numbers. NYC BLACK PRIDE is at the head of the list for the biggest bust of the year. After the highly sensationalized dismissal of their Executive Director and the subsequent investigation of the agency for misappropriation of funds, P.O.C.C. (People of Color in Crisis, Inc.) was forced to cancel PRIDE last August and shortly there after followed the funeral of the agency. No one really expected there to be any pride events this year as a result BUT true to scandal, a community of like minded NY based promoters in association with the NY Health Advocacy put together "Jubiliation" a Black Expo. Jubilant is not exactly what attendees had to say about the events. Friday night was opening night with a meet and greet that was pleasant enough. Not pulling punches Saturday was not successful. It was billed as a Jubilation Block Party in Commodore Park in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. It never took off, a handful of attendees and twice as many promoters, vendors and outreach workers lulled about complaining to each other. Frustrated vendors started giving food and drink away free so as to not see it wasted. Attendance at the beach event on Sunday was the least attended event. Our team did not attend the Sunday night performance and movie events as the projected outlooks were not favorable. Jubilation was reportedly planned by seasoned promoters and event coordinators who failed the basics. The events were not well publicized or advertised within the community in a timely manner and more importantly did not clearly separate themselves from the lingering stench of the scandal that cancelled last years events. In the future promote earlier in the community at large not just amongst your friends. The venues need to be changed. Commodore Park and Reiis Beach are associated with the scandal and promoters of the past. If you want people to move on, so must you! The best and most jubilant event was the artwork on the flier!

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Another of the highly anticipated and popular events of summer "The Dominican Festival and Parade" failed to make any noise this year! Surprisingly the event was not well attended as in past years. The parade was scheduled to begin at noon but did not kick off until after 1 PM and the police rushed it along so quickly that it was like seeing the parade in fast forward. The parade route was limited to 15 blocks, half the usual route. There were roughly 60 floats and 2/3 of them were politicians. Noticeably absent were the bands, radios stations, celebrities and the crowd just never got fully into it this year! This was a big let down after such an explosive and powerful Peurto Rican Day Parade earlier this summer.