By: Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 7/13/22 – The Pride festivities had been on pause for the last two years thanks to the COVID-19 crisis., but the crowd made up for it by coming in droves, lining Ocean Blvd for the 39th Annual Long Beach Pride Festival. Thousands of supporters celebrated this year’s theme; “many voices, one spirit.” THT had the chance to attend the festivities, enjoying the floats and views of the Pacific Ocean.
We also caught up with award-winning singer/ songwriter/guitarist Jennifer Corday as she participated in the parade, entering her decked-out U-Haul named Pink Cloud. When asked about her experience preparing for the festival, Corday said, “We had to get there at some ungodly hour to get in the line-up, and it was only then I realized I forgot my guitar at home! My 80-year-old dad came through and delivered the guitar to the float. We had extra time to wait because the parade was delayed. I heard one of the dykes on bikes did a wheelie and had an accident! I hope nobody got hurt? We stayed busy with pre-parade festivities, including applying glitter to our bodies, removing it, reapplying it, re-gluing clouds to the trailer, blowing bubbles, practicing hula hoop moves, and flirting with nearby parade entries. The folks from Target were our neighbors. We bought four lesbian flags because they were pink and matched our float! (I didn’t even know the lesbians had a flag?)
Finally, we hit the starting line, and shortly after that: the sad group of protesters with lame signs and bullhorns you can’t hear. We ignored them and forged on spreading the love to the bystanders, young and old, gay, and straight, who looked on from the sidelines. We had one glitch when my cell phone overheated and brought the music to a halt, but we iced it down and got back up and running within a minute or two. We were charged by a rowdy group of drunk lesbians (our friends, actually) who showered us with love and adoration. My parade driver Sheri was awesome, rolling us along at a snail’s pace. I am admittedly a bad driver, especially with a trailer, but Sheri is used to towing boats and things, so she stays calm and collected. We ended with a big finish at the final turn, where the famous Jewels announced our float, and the crowd cheered. We were exhausted, sleep-deprived, sweaty, and our voices shot. We spent hundreds of dollars, two full days shopping for supplies, and two more days building the float, all for the approximate fifteen-minute cruise. I looked at the U-Haul of lesbians, all smiling and aglow. Damn, that was fun! It was worth it!”
The experience became even more surreal for Corday because her new single Pink Cloud, dropped just in time for Pride. She was able to rock the 1.4-mile cruise down Ocean Blvd, blasting through the neighborhood in her Pink Cloud float with 1500 watts of power, two subwoofers, four 12-inch speakers, and 25 of her loud lesbian friends.
In addition, to live performances by Iggy Azalea and Natalia Jimenez, crowed goers were able to participate in activities such as; community walls (allowing guests to reflect and write inspiration messages), drag makeup (drag glam squad transforming guests into divas with a pop of glitter and lip gloss), roller rink, silent disco, and the transcendence dome (celebrating the trans women of color who pioneered everything Pride).
Jennifer Corday’s single is available worldwide through Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and all other music platforms. Click the link to watch the lyric video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4BYHkSbPA
ABOUT LONG BEACH PRIDE
Long Beach Pride, a 501(c)3 non-profit, is an all-volunteer organization that produces the annual three-day Long Beach Pride™ festival, parade, and teen pride annually in July. The third-largest Pride festival and parade in California celebrates the LGBTQ+ community with a focus on inclusion and works to educate the wider community that diversity builds a stronger and healthier society. Taking pride in what we have achieved since 1984, we strive to teach future generations that the battle for acceptance continues.