Everyone who celebrates Utah Pride knows it starts well before the weekend. For some, it started last Wednesday at club Jam for the Bud Boy search, but for me it started Thursday.

Following news that Trapp Door's popular Thursday night Dance Evolution moved to the new Club Edge, I decided to check out the gay-friendly hipster hangout, and when I did, it was hard not to feel as if I were at Trapp Door — similar layout and atmosphere; nearly identical crowd. I partied into the night with sounds by the famous DJ/DC and some traveling acts, and mingled with local celebs like Skylar Loraquette and Paul Sanchez (whom I heard threw one hell of a Pride party at Rage on Saturday), ThatGuyGil, DJ Justin Strange, and more.

I took Friday night off to rest up before the big weekend, making me a cardinal sinner in terms of Pride celebration. But it paid off, as on Saturday, I was able to get all the props ready for IN's float at the Pride parade on Sunday, plus check out Jeffree Star at club Babylon that night. I met Star, an LA scenester gone pop singer, and he was quiet but seemed like he wanted to hang out...that is until the stage was "cleared off," and the next day ThatGuyGil was like, "I heard Jeffree Star kicked you off his stage." Another friend told me the same thing, and said it was because Star doesn't like girls, especially ones dancing around his stage in zebra-print leotards... But I did find a friend in porn star Josh Griffin, who bummed cigarettes off my companion and chatted cordially with us on the balcony.

Sunday nearly defies words. Hungover, baggy-eyed, but still decked-out in our fabulous '70s garb, the IN crew (and friends of IN including Vanessa Monger, DJ:K, Weston Jensen, Tyler Ried and Andy Starley) showed up at 9 a.m. in the pouring rain to ready our float for the Pride parade. But there was no time for mimosas as things started to get harry — our DJ Jesse Walker, setting his concerns about rain damage nobily aside, had to go get his $4,000 set of speakers because ours didn't have the right equipment. The rain didn't stop as Jesse set up his rig on our open, soaking wet trailer, and some of us took posts holding a tarp over Jesse and his equipment.

But it got worse when someone shouted, "Can someone unlock the truck?" because the keys had been sitting on the seat — we were locked out. It was my dad's truck, and since he's quite handy, I started feeling around on the undercarriage for a Hide-a-key in a stupor of shock and denial. But as fate would have it, I found a dusty package Velcro-ed under the truck, which turned out to be a spare key! Spared, but not totally saved...

We entered the parade at the last second, with a sopping wet crew of IN peeps on the trailer, and Jesse crouched over his turntables undet a tarp. But he got the party started with a sweet mix of disco house, igniting an infectious urge to dance that spread from our float into the crowd. The rain didn't stop as we boogied around the block, wooing and smiling at the encouraging audience. As we drove past a crowd of protesters, Weston jumped out of our float and air-humped someone with a "Homo Sex is Sin" sign...hilarious. Soon, we were told the parade was over, and in trying to get back to the starting point, we took the long way, which took us past the LDS temple. So here were were — a motley crew of rowdy, wet kids pumping loud music while supporting Pride in skimpy garb — driving past the house of a notoriously non-LGBT-supportive organization...but the funny thing was, most of the people in suits in skirts were actually quite amused.
 
After a slew of "OMG" and "WTF" moments, the parade ended and we spent the rest of our day at our booth at the Pride festival in awe that not only did we avoid electrocution while protecting the DJ equipment, but we also had a boatload of fun. We can safely say this Pride will go down in our memories' history, because after all, you can't have a rainbow without the rain.

— Amanda Chamberlain
Photos by Joel Shoemaker: DJ Jesse Walker from under the tarp on IN's float; the IN crew on our Pride parade float; Weston Jensen and Vanessa Monger sport their hand-made Disco hats; DJ Jesse Walker out from under the tarp when the rain stopped; the condoms IN passed out at the Pride festival