Orlando – Highlights from Gay Days weekend 2016 included hot weather, packed pools and a gay couple making it pop by popping the question during Kesha’s set at the One Magical Weekend main event party June 4.
According to Chris Manley, president and co-owner of GayDays.com, this year’s event was “bigger than ever,” and they sold out their official host hotel, the Doubletree by Hilton at SeaWorld, earlier than ever before.
“What is nice is that already quite a few have rebooked for next year,” he reports.
The week kicked off with a party at Artegon Marketplace May 31, where more than 100 guests were entertained by the Orlando Gay Chorus, high flying acrobats and painted superheroes. The Gay Days Expo began June 2, and parties that night included Traffic Jam by Girls in Wonderland at Southern Nights and PI@PH, where Parliament House resurrected the spirit of a favorite and dearly departed club that used to rule Downtown Disney.
On June 4, Alexis Mateo, a RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, took home the crown at the Miss GayDayS Pageant, which featured a fashion show by Estevez Swimwear. Later that night, Cheyenne Saloon downtown opened its carved wooden doors for Climax, Girls in Wonderland’s annual Friday night party, and scantily-clad men (plus more than a few women) converged upon Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon for RipTide by One Magical Weekend. There, while the crowd danced to Kesha’s new single, “True Colors,” the music cut out and the singer herself made a surprise appearance onstage, inviting everyone to her concert at Hollywood Studios the following night.
Saturday brought blistering, triple-digit heat to the weekend. Most of the attendees opted to cool down at pool parties either at the host hotel or for the women, at Sheraton Lake Buena Vista. However, Manley says they had great attendance at their indoor earlier events, such as Porn Bingo with Chi ChiLaRue and the Rocky Horror Picture Show Experience.
“For a couple of our events, the Rocky Horror and the two bingos, we actually had to open up more air walls to expand the space at the last minute because there were so many door sales,” Manley says, adding that both were first-year events.
There were three main Saturday night events. Girls of Wonderland gathered at House of Blues while Sandra Bernhard and Deborah Cox performed at Parliament House. Taking her unique brand of storytelling and politics to an unexpected apex of Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas,” Bernhard informed and entertained the P-House crowd. June 4 also brought the aforementioned main event at Hollywood Studios, where Beth Sacks opened with her hit “Vous le Vous,” followed by a DJ set by Nina Flowers from RuPaul’s Drag Race. After midnight, Kesha took the stage and performed four of her biggest hits, including “TikTok” and “Timber,” as the crowd danced below.
After the third song, Kesha announced that she had held a contest and pulled the winners onto the stage. One of them, Joey, dropped to one knee and proposed to his boyfriend Navid to the delight of the crowd.
Finally, Hamburger Mary’s hosted the happiest brunch on earth with their annual Disney-themed Sunday morning Broadway Brunch. Before a packed restaurant, the performance included light saber duels, kissing boys and a big finale under the sea that was grand enough to satisfy King Triton himself.
Manley already has ideas for next year’s Gay Days weekend, including possible partnerships with Mr. Gay World and “our first Mr. Leather Days competition, as well as a separate leather fetish Expo.”
“One thing I think that has helped us grow is that our attendees are very good at telling us what they like and what they don’t like and what they would like to see happen,” Manley says, adding that they’re very open to feedback, especially what attendees may feel is missing from the event.
Danny Garcia, Anna Johnson, Billy Manes, Alex Storer and Jeremy Williams contributed to this story.
