By Shawn Conner
Lola Funk loves the Pride Parade, but shell have to miss it this year. Shell be working.
I rarely get to see or go to the parade, says Funk, who tends bar at The Junction on Davie Street. I get home at 5:30 in the morning and rest up for the night after the parade. Sunday is the biggest and craziest night of the week.
For Funk and her service-industry colleagues in the West End, the week leading up to the Parade is the busiest of the year.
All the people in the industry look forward to it, says Funk, who has been a bartender at The Junction for two years. Prior to that, she worked at the Odyssey before that bar closed down.
Financially, its great, she says. Theres an influx of business that counteracts the slower months, like January and February. A lot of people from out-of-town come in, as well as locals who dont go out that much.
Since 1981, when Vancouver hosted the first Gay Unity Parade (though some date the origins of the parade to Gay Unity Week in 1978), the Pride Parade and Festival has grown to where it brings approximately half a million people to the West End and down-town.
With the spike in visitors comes a huge boost to business; a 2001 study found that the 140,000 people at the parade that year generated some $24 million. In 2007, Pride organizer John Boychuk estimated $66 million in revenue, based on a four-fold increase in attendees.
Part of the reason for the growth is Vancouvers proactive engagement with the gay community, says Angus Praught, president of Gayvan.com Travel Marketing.
Because of its involvement in international organizations and events, Vancouver has been recognized as more of a gay-friendly destination, says Praught. We had the Pride House here, which was a first for the Olympics.
When it comes to people and dollars, though, Praught says that its difficult to gauge exact numbers.
Not everybody identifies themselves as gay, or wants to be wearing it on their forehead or sleeve when they travel. So that might make it more difficult to quantify how many people actually come here for the festival.
His job takes Praught to other Pride events, both in comparably sized and larger cities. So far this year hes visited San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
I think Vancouvers doing a great job, says Praught. Its a world-class event thats comparable to these other places.
So dont change a thing?
I wouldnt say that, he says. I would say communication with these other events might be something worth pursuing.
He notes, too, that other cities bring in bigger-name entertainment. For instance, this year, San Francisco Prides main stage featured the Backstreet Boys. The biggest star of Vancouvers Pride week might be CeCe Peniston, a Top 40 recording artist who achieved fame with the 1991 dance track Finally.
No matter who performs at this years Pride, service industry personal like Lola Funk will be seeing little, if any, of the entertainment.
It is really intensely busy, she says. I come home, sleep, grab a snack, and go back to work. Its like being an athlete that week.
Funk says that the bar, which can extend its serving hours until 4am for the days leading up to the parade, will take in at least twice as much as on a normal night and shell do a lot of that volume. Its not for everyone, but Im a pretty high volume bartender, Im extremely fast.
She says she took an informal survey of other bars last year and found shed had the highest sales of every gay bar on Pride Sunday. Its unofficial, but from the research I did I think I got the top sales $5,350. A normal weekend night would probably be about $2,000.
It might be hard work, but theres the fun aspect too, she says, including catching up with friends she might not see the rest of the year.
I just find the whole atmosphere is really positive and really fun compared to other events that come to Vancouver in the summer, like the fireworks, says Funk. Its a positive thing.
