For its 11th Annual Street Festival and promenade, now called Pride Carnivale, St. Pete Pride is asking the community to choose its three grand marshals in 2013.
“We heard the feedback, and we’re responding,” said Eric Skains, Executive Director.”In the past, Grand Marshals were decided by a small group from within the community much like other parades. This method often overlooks those unsung heroes within our community, and many people felt too many people were being overlooked.”
According to Skains, Pride sent out a survey through email and other social media means in January and spoke with leaders throughout various organizations, to solicit nominations from within the community. People were asked to nominate someone who they felt contributed most to the positive image and outlook of Tampa Bay’s LGBT community. This list was then narrowed down to three in each category: Self-identified Male, Self-identified Female, and Organization.
The three nominees for each category are:
- Male: Mark Bias and Carrie West, long time activists within the community; Michael Keeffe of TransAction Florida; Steve Blanchard, editor of Watermark Newsmagazine.
- Female: Renee Cossette of the Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival; Sharon Herman, a long time contributor to LGBT organizations; Susan McGrath of Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas.
- Organization: AIDS Association of Pinellas (ASAP); Metro Wellness & Community Centers; PFLAG Tampa.
“It’s our hope to make this a humbling experience for the nominees by spotlighting them and their achievements so that new generations of our community can be inspired and get involved as well,” Skains said.
Voting for the Grand Marshals will run throughout the month of April, and can be done by visiting StPetePride.com. Those who wish to vote for a nominee in person can do so by visiting a Metro Wellness and Community Centers, which will provide access to the website.
St. Pete Pride will announce its 2013 Grand Marshals at a special event on Saturday, May 18 at Bert Smith BMW in St Petersburg. The 2013 Pride Carnivale, which includes the annual Festival and Promenade, is set for June 26-30, 2013.
