Talk:Brisbane Pride Festival

Needing sources for event locations and Queen's Ball (Feb 2023)
In Sep 2013, the Pride Fair Day section was expanded to provide history and explain the day. This was later removed in Dec 2019. ==Pride Fair Day == Fair Day is the main event of the festival calendar. The Festival is an inclusive, community-based celebration run by Brisbane Pride Inc., a non-profit organisation operated by a voluntary board/working committee, assisted by volunteers. After a difficult year in 2010/11 the Festival has moved to September and had a new home for Fair Day, Perry Park in Bowen Hills. This day has now grown to encompass a rally and parade through Brisbane city streets and a fair.

Fair Day was generally held through the 2000s on a weekend day after the Queen's Birthday Weekend in June each year. The last year at Musgrave Park, South Brisbane, was 2010. Due to various issues, QNews newspaper hosted the 2011 event which was called Carnivale, at a dusty and non-shaded Perry Park, Bowen Hills, Brisbane. In September 2012, the Fair Day again was held at Perry Park. Saturday, 21 September 2013 saw the event, supported by Brisbane City Council funding, move to New Farm Park, Brisbane. Well supplied with public transport (ferry and bus), street parking and walking distance from Fortitude Valley, the park itself is well-grassed, and shaded in parts. There is an admission fee for the fair day.

A street procession is led by 'Dykes on Bikes', a group of female motorcyclists, to the Fair Day, arriving about 10.30 am. The area is divided into stalls, and an entertainment precinct. Stalls vary from food vendors, businesses, to organisations such as Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Anti-Discrimination Commission of Queensland, LGBTI Legal Service, Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC), and the Queensland Police Service's LGBTI Police Liaison Officer Programme. Sitting on the police bike is an annual photographic occurrence for participants, among the live music and street entertainment. After 5.00 pm, most people remain for the evening's entertainment.

Similarly the Annual Queen's Ball Awards Gala are part of the Pride events had a section included in Dec 2019, but later removed in the same month. == The Annual Queen's Ball Awards == With a history spanning 58 years, The Queens Ball is Queensland’s premier LGBTIQA+ event and the longest continuously running LGBTIQA+ event in the world.

Originating on Mt. Tamborine in the Gold Coast Hinterland, the event was intended as a night of fun and frivolity at a time when it was still illegal to be gay in Australia, the event has continued to evolve year after year. From house parties to dance parties, cocktail parties and more, the event has now found a home at Brisbane City Hall for the 5th year running and is now attended by more than 500 guests, with numbers continue to grow each year.

The event was traditionally hosted on the Queen's Birthday Public Holiday long weekend (from where it derives its name), which was observed on the second Monday in June each year. However, in 2015 the State of Queensland moved the date of this public holiday to October. Not wanting to conflict with other events in the Brisbane Pride Festival events calendar, organisers voted to keep the Queen's Ball In June.

The Queen’s Ball is a glittering combination of a formal awards ceremony and a raucous celebration of queer culture. It also serves as a major fundraiser for the Brisbane Pride Festival, raising funds each year to support initiatives that aim to improve the mental health and the wellbeing of the LGBTIQA+ community. Recognition of the hard work undertaken by members of the community is crucial to advancing LGBTIQA+ issues at the local, state and federal level in Australia.

They need more sources, but if someone could return these with supporting references, thanks!