To help celebrate Perth’s 20th Pride Festival, this year’s committee will present a night of glitz and glamour as it introduces the Inaugural Pride WA Ball to the social scene. Fine dining and quality entertainment will accompany an awards presentation set to recognise great contributions made by individuals and organisations to Perth’s GLBTIQ community. With the Riverside Ballroom at Novotel Langley providing a spectacular backdrop, this is an event that’s certainly not to be missed.

In fitting with this year’s Homecoming theme, the Ball will of course showcase a King and Queen not to mention other award categories focusing on community contributions. Award details will be released shortly with nominations taking place in June, July and August. An independent panel of judges will then determine the final winners, to be announced on the night.

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Whilst the awards presentation is obviously the centrepiece, it certainly won’t dominate the night, with quality entertainment and great fun being high on the agenda for Pride.

According to Pride Co-President Charles Denham, the community has been craving an event of this nature for quite some time. “We have spoken to many people over the past few weeks and the message we’ve been hearing is loud and clear.” said Denham “People have wanted an event like this for years. Everyone loves an opportunity to get dressed up and be waited on hand and foot, so we are glad to finally bring the Homecoming Ball to Perth.”

Live music and spectacular shows will keep the room buzzing between awards and the spacious Riverside Ballroom will ensure there’s plenty of space to give those dancing shoes a workout.

The Homecoming Ball will be held on Saturday August 22nd, a few weeks prior to the official festival launch on Friday September 18th. Ticket information and award nomination forms will be released soon, so keep an eye out on Facebook and the Pride website for all of the latest.

Fairday is locked in at Russell Square on Sunday September 27th and for the first time it will extend into the night. Entertainment will be boosted up a notch this year with a mix of local and not so local talent providing the tunes. More details of the fantastic line-up will be released closer to the day. After 6PM the stalls will be closed and the grounds will be reduced, creating a party vibe for the remainder of the event. Fairday 2009 is not to be missed!

This year’s festival is sure to be action packed as we celebrate our 20th Parade on the October 31st with the Homecoming Party immediately after. We are still eagerly seeking any community members who participated in the first march in 1989, so please emails us at pride@pridewa.asn.au if you can help us on this quest.

More details about the 6 week festival will be available soon.

Andrew Baeitta, Pride WA

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