Four years ago I attended my first Worcester Pride celebration. With boyfriend and friends in tow, I headed to Institute Park, the former site of Pride, and sang some George Michael ditties as part of the live performance portion of the day. Across the park lawn there were thousands, okay hundreds, okay, twenty people. This was Worcester Pride and darn it all, I was going to sing for my people like there was a crowd of thousands. At the end of the day though, as we drove away, we all talked about how Pride was kind of, well, lame, kind of under attended, and more than a little lacking in Pride.

Fast forward to 2003, when Pride up and moved to Water Street. Gone was the Gay Pride march around city hall, and gone was the small crowd lounging around Institute Park.

Enter a block party that stretches from Harrison Avenue, down Water Street to the Chevalier’s Furniture building, in a district readily recognized these days as the gay district. You want a gay dance club? Go to Blu on Water Street. You want to surround yourself with lesbians singing karaoke? Go to Club Car on a Sunday night. Looking for a bar where everybody knows your name (or more likely your screen name)? The MB Lounge is the place for you. And on September 9, Pride will tie it all together. This is not your Institute Park Pride; this is your 3000-attendee (and growing) Pride of 2006.

“We were looking for something different when we moved it off Institute Park,” Worcester Pride Committee Treasurer Sean Fitzpatrick said. “When you got to Institute Park, there was nothing to do, so half the crowd left, and half went to the local bar. By weaving it all together with the local businesses like [MB Lounge] and Blu, it keeps the momentum going.”

“I think the committee has really tried hard to find the right niche for Worcester Pride,” Worcester resident Tim Rucho, who has attended all the incarnations of the festivities for the past seven years, said. “I’ve liked that in recent years it’s been more of a block party, and is growing. It makes a stronger statement to the larger community when we come out in large numbers, otherwise it’s too easy for people to think we’re not all here,” he adds.

Growth is the goal of the Pride Committee. The Committee is also bringing back aspects of the previous Prides that have worked well in Worcester. Starting at noon September 9, the beer garden will make a triumphant return, and the festivities will continue well into the night, punctuated by a 4 pm political rally featuring local gay-loving politicians, a 5 pm fashion show, and the Gay Central MA pageant at 6 pm.

At 2 pm, the Central Massachusetts Business Council (CMBC) will start its second annual business expo. CMBC is a business-networking group that started in 2004. The 159 gay and gay-friendly members brought the expo to Pride for the first time in 2005.

“Rather than the gay community trying to find us, we went right to them,” CMBC President Paul Leone said. “We have a whole variety of exhibits from food vendors to real estate agents, all of whom believe in equality for gay and lesbians.”

Leone said this year’s expo will include more activities for families.

“Gay families are very diverse,” Leone said. “Sexuality is our common bond, but many of us are single, many are married, many are with and many are without children. We parallel the straight community in that.”

Making its debut at the business expo is The GLBT Initiative, run through the Worcester Community Foundation. The Initiative has quietly existed for a little over a year and has run a think tank to gather information about the makeup of the GLBT community in Worcester.

“The goal is to raise $200 thousand to be given out in a series of grants that will support the GLBT community in Worcester,” Initiative Co-chairperson Rodney Glasgow said.

The Initiative is treating the business expo as its grand coming out, and will also use it as an opportunity to invite GLBT folks and their allies to its fall Masquerade Ball.

“Pride is important because it reflects the city’s inhabitants,” Glasgow said. “It makes them feel good about where they come from, and at this time in this state, it’s important that Worcester show support for its GLBT residents.”

For more information on Gay Pride Worcester 2006, visit the Pride Committee’s website at www.worcesterpride.org.