No More Mardi Gras Parade?

Local News, By Christian Taylor, 6th December, 2007

Mardi Gras this morning launched their festival guide for 2008 and not only is the line up absolutely inspiring, but so is the new found leadership and bold ethos emanating from within the organisation.

The theme for 2008 is Brave New Worlds and Mardi Gras is certainly entering one indeed. During his speech Marcus Bourget touched on the reality that Mardi Gras is facing right here, right now.

“A 2005 study commissioned by New Mardi Gras for the Premier’s Department concluded that Mardi Gras was responsible for bringing $46 million into the NSW economy,” said Marcus. “It remains one of my great frustrations that we are still unable to share in the millions of dollars we generate for the state.”

Marcus said that Mardi Gras does get some support, but it pales in comparison to what it generates for the economy. It’s time something changed.

“As we celebrate the 30th anniverary the question I have for you is a simple one – can we imagine a Mardi Gras where we commemorate 1978 without the Parade?”

Marcus suggested some alternatives which were well received by those in the room. They’re ideas that have essentially been simmering away within the community for some time and they make a lot of sense.

“Do we use the many hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to stage the event and instead use some of this money to invest and grow… Fair Day? Does Fair Day become our community’s mark of remembrance? Or do we strip back the parade to its essential core – a protest? Do we, in fact, start at Hyde Park with a walk of remembrance up Oxford Street and into Moore Park? A march without floats, without music and without crowds, but a march for ourselves, our friends, our families, our kids, our community?”

The suggestion of the end of the Mardi Gras Parade is definitely a brave new world. As a community it’s about time we realised that when it comes to the parade, everyone else is benefiting from it but us. Are we, as a community, brave enough for change? Lets hope so.

What do you think the future of the Mardi Gras Parade should be? Vote now in the forums.

Your Thoughts

mikeb

said ages ago

I think that unfortunately the parade has lost it's meaning along the way and actually bares no relevance to the current climate in which we find ourselves . We are citizens without equal rights and quite frankly it screws with my brain when I think of all the so called s8 people who love us gays but yet do nothing to help us achieve what should be a right . Actually on that point I go further and include myself in that equation , a complacent homo who at times gets mad and then later thinks ah what the fuck ! I am sick of it maybe we should have a mass riot instead ! Riot of a party , yeh !

judes1974

said ages ago

I will definitely miss the parade. We usually do all the big events and lots of the small ones and I will be sad to see it go... it's a huge part of our history.

Mydoona

said ages ago

OH come on...the best way to boost the parade and make more money is to show it on TV again and release an album. i don't go to the parade as I live to far from it and if I want a goodseat I have to get there at 2pm in the afternoon and line up..who wants to do that???..not me...show it on TV and people would flock to watch it.

morgan

said ages ago

Personally, I think the parade is one of the best things about living in Sydney. It's up there with Rio Carnival and the Notting Hill Parade as one of the most colourful, exciting parades, one of the most colourful, exciting, joyful events, on the planet. I guess the Rio Carnival might be different, but the Notting Hill Parade, and the St Patrick's Day parades which began in the States, started just the same way as the Mardi Gras parade here - as a way of creating visibility for a disadvantaged community, and they've all evolved into celebrations that exert a pull well beyond their original communities. Now that I've been here for a few years, I know that Mardi Gras is more than just the parade, but the parade is the climax, not the after party. I think that Sydney, and Sydney's lesbians and gay men would lose something quite profound without the parade. I think the parade, and Mardi Gras itself, has been taken for granted for many years. I've heard many people express a degree of ennui about Mardi Gras and the parade, and the level of public funding seems to poorly match the benefit to the city and state. I hope that the debate will help to change both of those things.

Christian Taylor

said ages ago

you don't know what you've got til it's gone. perhaps that's exactly what needs to happen.

GenesisInVain

said ages ago

Let the reinvention begin!!! Here here!

Christian Taylor

said ages ago

i think the community needed to lose mardi gras years ago. like a couple of years ago when the community didn't go to sleaze, and didn't support it - they all went to other parties instead. mardi gras practically had to beg people to go support them. that's when they should have folded. and it would have served everyone right. for the community to not support their biggest fundraiser, and then expect gaydar to bail them out financially so we could still have a mardi gras - well, it hardly seems fair, does it?

Tomas Finnerty

said ages ago

Hmm...I think a reality check is called for. It definitely does not cost Mardi Gras hundreds of thousands to stage the Mardi Gras Parade, however if individual entry costs are taken in to account then i'm sure the cost is substantial. And there is additinoal money raised at the parade through sponsorship, etc to counter the spend- this should be looked at further- perhaps as Mydoona suggests looking at TV rights, etc. The parade definitely costs money, but none near what is suggested. I definitely agree that more government support is required though. Regardsless of the future direction of Mardi Gras, others will always benefit if we get the international visitors as well as spending from the home crowd.

FlipX

said ages ago

I kinda feel like Mardi Gras had long become as soulless as Christmas. A shake-up that forces people to reassess why Mardi Gras SHOULD be important would be brilliant.

taylor-dayne

said ages ago

the reason i think that the parade should become a walk of remembrance is that the community has lost so much the last couple of years - it's not that it's commercial - it's purely that marching down a street that is no longer gay friendly is stupid. who feels like dancing down the golden mile when we know that eveyr other day of the year it's one of the most homophobic areas in the city? i think a walk from the park to the party would be great, cos we hang onto the ritual that holds the community together (we are so fractured at the moment, if we lose this we're fucked) and it will remind everyone that gay sydney is going through a tough time. all of us walking together - a sobering reminder that we're losing things left right and centre (our clubs, our meaning, our safety) but we're not gaining anything either (where's our relationship recognition? where's equality under the law? oh that's right - we're not getting it.) mardi gras caused people to sit up and take notice once upon a time. now things are different. we need to make it work for us - keep us together, make us stronger. and hopefully it will inspire us to keep on fighting for our rights in other ways. mardi gras doesn't advance us politically anymore.

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