What’s new at Pride 2012
Nearing three decades of pride festivals, Utah Pride is constantly changing and always improving. Here’s just a smattering of some of the big changes festivalgoers should be aware of before showing up to this year’s celebration.
Ground Expansion
To accommodate thousands of visitors, the Utah Pride Festival will once again be expanding to portions of the Salt Lake City Library grounds. This area will be a quiet place to grab a table, re-hydrate and chat with friends. This will also allow for an expansion of the Kids Zone and volunteer area.
Drink Ticket System
Also new to this year’s Pride is a friendlier drink-ticket system. Festivalgoers may purchase, in one transaction, as many drink tickets as they wish and simply redeem them throughout the weekend. The system may appear somewhat complicated at first — there are lines for tickets and others for drinks — but after purchasing the tickets once, attendees will save time by cruising through the drink line.
New Entrance and Pass Information
To accommodate the growing number of attendees, tickets to the Utah Pride Festival are on sale now through all Smithstix outlets. Ticket price is $10 each with a $3 service fee. Purchasing tickets in advance will keep the lines short and make the experience that much more pleasant.
Also, a new entrance on the west end of Washington Square will open. This will help divert foot traffic around the festival and alleviate congestion at the south and north entrances.
Parade Route
The parade route made a dramatic shift last year, opening up a long, straight-shot from 400 East, down 200 South, ending at West Temple. The route is the same this year, but with many of the kinks ironed out – there are now pointers of where to wait and watch. The judges table will be located in the middle of the route, along State Street. To see the best performance of all the floats, show up early and wait between State Street and 200 East. For the most shade, grab a spot between Main Street and West Temple on the south side.