It looks like things are shaping up to be an exciting summer this year starting out with epic beach and circuit parties. Memorial Day weekend has grown over the past several years to be one of the biggest gay outings for beach and dance. There are two events that really compete each year for the Gay Memorial Day Weekend and that would be the events in Pensacola and Matinee Las Vegas.
The decision is easy for most of us because we would prefer the beach to the concrete faux Las Vegas skyline. This year they have upped the offer for the Matinee party as they are throwing most of the parties in the clubs inside Hard Rock and those are great places to party even though they are not traditionally gay clubs they have supported past gay events such as Hustlaball Vegas. See our comparison here.
May 25-29 on the beautiful sugar white sands of Pensacola Beach they are throwing 7 Fabulous parties.The newest events are the Glow party and the Foam parties. Keep in mind they have skipped the past few years of throwing beach parties and moved them to Emerald City. This year will be better with the parties on the beach.
Friday, May 26 • 9PM-3AM GLOW Paint Party with DJ Joe Gauthreaux
Saturday, May 27 • 9PM-3AM The return of WAVE Beach Party with DJ Dani Toro
Sunday, May 28 • 9PM-3AM BATHHOUSE Foam Party with DJ GRIND
Additional weekend DJs include: DJ Joe Ross, DJ Blacklow, DJ Drew G and DJ Hector Fonseca. DJ Dani Toro puts on an amazing production and is one not to be missed! There will also be parties across the beach at the Portofino resort which is basically the “host hotel” for the weekend.
The host for the weekend will be Colby Melvin. We wonder if he will be wearing scandalous gang bang swimwear at the parties.
The Pensacola Memorial day weekend has had a few challenges this year but also some great additions. One of the challenges is the Emerald City club closing which was an amazing dance club that was a little too big for the small Southern town of Pensacola, Florida. Being a Southern city Pensacola attracts some of the hottest guys from (Atlanta) Georgia, Kentucky, (Nashville) Tennessee, and Alabama.
Another one of the challenges of the Pensacola events this year are the past beach clean-ups and this year they have a Christian concert going on the same weekend. Since the 1960’s, LGBT people have been meeting at Pensacola Beach for what eventually became known as “Gay Memorial Day Weekend.” This year, though, they’ll have to share the beach with a conservative Christian concert according to some gay media. The headlines that you see such as “A Christian music concert will share the stage with LGBT events during Pensacola Beach’s Memorial Day weekend festivities.” That is fake news. They did not investigate where the concert will be held which is on the straight end of the beaches in a pavilion near the surfers which is over a mile away from the gay area. Past years we have had tons of protesters at Emerald City nightclub but since that club no longer exists and the homophobic hotel that allowed them to protest was the spot they stood we no longer have this problem. We do recommend going out to that end and checking out the hot surfers.
Gay Memorial Day Weekend, also sometimes called “Memorial Day Pensacola Beach Pride,” is a yearly gathering on the beach that by the 1990’s had grown into a large, organized event, including circuit parties and drag shows. The event has attracted thousands of revelers each year, often wearing rainbow flags and digging out jacuzzis on the beach. The gays have an entire area of a more private beach that stretches for a few miles.
Parking, Trash and Tent Placement for Gay Pensacola 2017
A “Leave No Trace” ordinance was passed last year to protect the beautiful
beaches that prohibits tents or any personal items from being left on the beach overnight. After meeting with the Santa Rosa Island Authority, Memorial Weekend Pensacola has been granted a special event permit. This permit will allow for tents to remain overnight on the beach in the event area from 7AM Thursday, May 25th through 7AM Monday, May 29th. This area is just east of Portofino to the National Seashore. There will be signage marking the area.
Johnny Chisholm events will be selling a limited number of 4 day parking passes ($70) for Park East parking lot 3 at johnnychisholm.com. This Parking Pass guarantees a parking space and allows vehicle to pass through roadblock each day after the road to beach is closed. This will off-set the cost of the cleaning fee to the county, cost of extra dumpsters, port-a-lets and public safety officials.
Here is what is allowed on the beach for this weekend:
1) Pop-up tents or canopies without sides, canopies must be next to each other or 7 feet apart.
2) Tables – These must be at least 7 feet long and 3 feet tall. This is to ensure sea turtles have access to the beach.
3) Chairs – All chairs must be removed from the beach at night or folded and strapped to canopy posts.
4) Ice chests – All need to be removed at night or placed on top of tables.
5) Solar-powered generators with sealed batteries (Not over night).
These items are not allowed:
1) Tents with sides or built-in floor.
2) No guy-wire supporting canopies.
3) No fossil fuel generators.
4) No open flames – this includes charcoal grills.
5) No portable toilets.
6) No reserving of space on the beach prior to the start of the permit.
7) No roping off of spots during events.
8) No portable swimming pools.
9) No pets.
10) No glass. Bring these instead.
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