A very jubilant crowd of TAMPA PRIDE supporters weathered the Tampa rainy storm Friday night at the Honey Pot. Over 200 attended the Kick Off TAMPA PRIDE Launch & Cocktail Reception.

    ” What a great way to start the new revival of TAMPA PRIDE.” stated Mark Eary, TAMPA PRIDE Parade Co-Chair. ” The people are singing in the rain! With the mocked up 12′  tornadoes inside this is great fun.”

    A dozen Musical numbers by area Tampa talent performed, a Super Silent Auction, an array of served appetizers by Cristino’s Italian Restaurant, Scott, Mike and Mark E and a wild group of scary   tornados for decor in the Honey Pot.  Adam Walls & Mark Eary did a great job in setting up the ‘Out of the Storm ‘ event.

    ” Proud…Determined…United” is the 2015 theme for 2015 Tampa’s Pride resurgence Carrie West, TAMPA PRIDE President, announced.

    The TAMPA PRIDE group have to come up with $65,000 by January just for the City of Tampa for Special Events street closures and cleanup. Another $40,000 is needed to have for the Pride event set ups, vendor tents, entertainment, stage and other expenses.

    Kurt King, Gerre Reynolds, Michael Wilson and Walter Pinillos are Capital Campaign Co-Chairs. There is a GO-FUND-ME bank account set up for donations on TAMPA PRIDE Facebook page and on the new website, www.TAMPAPRIDE.org  . All donations will help benefit Pride. There is also Corporate packages available from the co-chairs and on the website. And when we say ‘Grass roots’, we mean community grassroots!

    Tampa  haven’t had a Gay Pride parade for over 14 years. It is about time! The new Pride organization have a great response of participation from the many non profit community organizations including TIGLFF, Balance Tampa Bay, PFLAG Tampa, Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Equality Florida, many local Bear groups, Una Voce – Gay Men’s Choral, Metro Wellness & Community Centers, Hillsborough GLBTA Democratic Caucus, numerous church groups and so many more calling everyday.

    “Everyone really wants to get on board with the new Tampa Pride event.” Carrie proclaimed.

    The upcoming TAMPA PRIDE is set for Saturday, March 28, 2015. On that Saturday will be a Pride Festival Vendor Show on 8th Ave. and on 7th Ave will be the new TAMPA PRIDE Parade. The sloagn,  “Corridor of Prides” will now include TAMPA PRIDE held in March, St Pete Pride in June and Orlando’s ‘Come Out With Pride’ Celebration in October.

    In the Central Florida corridor there is an estimated 2 million GLBT households. The GLBT issues are many including same – sex marriage, marriage equality and GLBT working rights. This next year will be a whole lot of GLBT PRIDE in Central Florida!

    The next TAMPA PRIDE meeting is Tuesday, October 14th at Hampton Inn & Suites at 6pm.

    New website www.TAMPAPRIDE.org , Email address; TampaPride2015@gmail.com

Photos by www.JamieLawryPhotography.com

https://www.facebook.com/TalkAllYouWant?fref=ts

    Nicole Lane from Tampa won the pageant title at the 4th Annual Miss East Coast Large & Lovely Pageant. The co-owners, Delores Van Cartier and Kurt King put on a very impressive pageant at Hamburger Mary’s Sunday Night. The friendly fierce set of judges included from Baltimore – Adonius Diamond, St.Pete – Stephanie Stuart, Clearwater – Jocelyn Summers and Kathern Nevets from Lakeland.

    This years pageant had 8 contestants and the pageant added a Sexy Lingerie category for all contestants. The winner took away $14,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. The National Crown will be held in February in Orlando at the Parliament House.

    Last years 2014 winner Miss Dorae Sondero and 2013 winner Miss Star Montrese Love were celebrated pageant guests.

    Congratulations Nicole!

    The upcoming Fall Pumpkin Patch, Fall Craft’s Weekend and the many fall festival weekends are always a treat for the whole family. The freshly baking bread aromatic smell in the air to the many artists you can personally meet and chat with about their creations.

    On the end of the TECO Streetcar Line in historic Ybor City is one the two newest Memorials in Tampa. The 911 Fallen Heroes Memorial is on the corner of 8th Ave & 20th Street. A very solemn memory of the infamous tragic day in America.

    “We Will Not Forget 9/11” is imbedded in the 911 Fallen Heroes Memorial grounds.The beam is from the World Trade Center II that collapsed with NYFD fire fighter stainless steel figurine statues helping a fellow firefighter and a NYC Police statue of a firefighter covered in ash & dust in need of medical attention.

    This is a must see!

    Next to that memorial is the new Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Memorial.

    The new Tampa Baseball Museum in the famous Tampa Al Lopez House  is having a major total redo. The infamous first Tampa native major league baseball player was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

    The old wooden Lopez house in North Ybor City was moved to the 19th St & 9th Ave lot (next to Centennial Park) for the renovation and future museum transformation.

    It will house a collection of the 125 Years of National Baseball League History in and around Tampa, West Tampa and the Tampa Negro Baseball Team.

www.hcso.tampa.fl.us      http://new.livestream.com/HTVstreaming/HCSO

tampabaseballmuseum.org