Activism, Organizing, Pride Events: Good Strategies for Visibility

[Miss Scarlett]

Things we found worked well with Pride Charlotte:

• Bottled water - we sold them for $1/bottle. There are a lot of companies that will custom label for you. Some of these companies require the purchse of an entire pallet so instead you can have your own stickers printed and put them on bottles yourself. This eliminates storage problems - the only downside is that the if the bottles are in icy water you will lose the sticker. (Be sure to check the vendor application for an event to be sure you don't have to be a food vendor to sell or give away food/drink or to be sure that you can sell water. Pride Charlotte was the only authorized water vendor and it was spelled out on all of our vendor applications.)
  
• Having loads of DumDum pops to give out - these are always a hit
  
• Beads, beads, beads!
  
• Hand fans with your logo printed on them - especially in the summer
  
• Little paper gift bags containing a couple pieces of candy, strand of beads, magnet or other item advertising your organization, etc.
  
• A drawing for a cd, dvd, gift card or some other item, requiring no purchase just a sign up with a valid email address.
  
• A dog watering station at your tent - especially in the summer. I had to fight with my committee and eventually overrode them (I could do this as Co-Chair) to put these in place.
  
• A misting station - if the venue will allow such a thing and it won't make the immediate area too slippery(Gateway Village would not let us install one inside their property but we could have them outside on the street). This is a good draw to your vendor space.
  
• Frozen ice cream/popsicle novelities - if you have a really good cooler and can get enough dry ice

Things we found did not work well:

• Luminaries - not in the summer - candles melt, and people don't like carrying bags of sand.
  
• T-shirts never sold well. (With the exception of my final year with Pride Charlotte when we had an incredible design, offered shirts of different colors and sleeveless shirts too. The lesbians snatched up the sleeveless shirts in record numbers.)
  
• Balloons - too difficult to man the helium tank and the tent at the same time. Also balloons are a hazard to children and there is nothing more annoying than a drunk inhaling helium

Food item suggestions:

• Fruit is not a good idea, too perishable.
  
• Granola bars or energy bars are good if they don't have chocolate or won't get too gooey in the heat. Chips are good unless the LGBT group from Frito Lay is there and you won't sell much. (See if the organizers will tell you if Frito will have a presence.)
  
• Lance crackers, lunchbox size packs of cookies and other non-chocolate snacks or 100 calorie packs are also good.

Check out this site for Pride Festival info: http://www.interpride.org/

Hope this helps. I am a founder of the current Pride Charlotte & spent 3 1/2 years on the committee, 2 as Co-Chair (2007 & 2008) before retiring last year. I'll be happy to help you any way I can. Feel free to PM or email me any time.