For the past eight years, Broadway businesses have celebrated Seattle's Pride weekend with a festival on the Saturday before the Pride March, and approximately 20-30 brick and mortar shops have participated with booths and outdoor patio seating. This event is important in reminding attendees and participants that Capitol Hill, and Broadway specifically, served as the heart of the queer community for more than five decades. The Saturday event is well-attended by visitors from throughout the region and the state who travel to Seattle for Sunday's downtown Pride Parade, which is the third largest in the country, and is often the highest grossing weekend for many of the restaurants who add outdoor seating areas.

 

While this event is a blast for all who attend, festivals do have impacts, such as trash, parking and mobility limitations. For example, last year, the Broadway BIA (BBIA) incurred a $500 charge to deal with additional clean up from the Saturday Festival between John and Roy Street and retail businesses reported significantly lower sales when compared to other non-festival weekends due to limited visibility to entrances and booths with competing out-of-area vendors located within close proximity. The BBIA board sent a letter to the City outlining these concerns last year and this year they sent a letter requesting better communication from the historic event organizers with regards to garbage collection and vendor placement for the traditional June 24 ^th event.

 

Recently, the historic organizers announced they were changing the date of Pride Festival from June 24 ^th to June 10 ^th. This change was quite a surprise to Broadway BIA ratepayers, many of whom are already planning for staffing for that weekend and have purchased or rented supplies in preparation for Pride weekend customers. On April 21 ^st  (time T.B.D), the City will be deliberating the application to move the event to June 10 ^th for a festival that will stretch from Pine to Roy on Broadway (time not confirmed yet). The BBIA board will be attending and submitting a letter with regards to this application and we need to hear from you to ensure we are addressing your concerns. 

Please take one minute to answer these three questions to ensure we are representing your opinions and concerns and email additional comments to [email protected].