Pride fest organizers struggling to pay debt, fund event

Seattle Pride festival organizers held a Seattle Center event last year with a Volunteer Park budget, and if they don't figure out a way to pay the balance it could kill this year's festival.

City officials at Seattle Center are threatening to cancel this year's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender festival because the group still owes the city $100,000 for last June's event. Seattle Out And Proud, the organizers, say they are broke.

Organizers say they are a small volunteer organization struggling with growing pains and that the board has been trying to "morph into a more professional organization," said Dave Coffman, Seattle Out's attorney and a board member. But, he said, "this thing has always operated off the smell of an oily rag. It's running on fumes."

The festival now draws more than 200,000 people, he said, and it's still cobbled together by eight volunteers.

The June celebration commemorates what many consider the birth of the gay-rights movement — when New York police raided Stonewall Tavern, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Over the past three decades, it has evolved from a political protest to a celebration of gay love to a gay — and straight — family weekend outing. Coffman said the group has hired a professional consultant to work on corporate sponsorships and is trying to attract a more diverse group of sponsors beyond breweries and personal-lubricant makers.

"Three years ago, the largest thing at Volunteer Park was this giant balloon of ID lube ... ," he said. "Somehow we've got to accommodate the Dykes on Bikes who want to take their tops off and ride at the front of the parade, and we have to accommodate a bouncy castle for 4-year-old twins and their straight parents."

Organizers said the event had gotten so big it was no longer safe to hold on Capitol Hill. Neighborhood stores and businesses protested because of the lost business. The festival lost Budweiser and Microsoft as sponsors.

The event was scraping by financially at Volunteer Park, but the board's controversial decision to move the Capitol Hill parade and festival to Seattle Center cost twice as much. At Volunteer Park, the event cost about $125,000 to put on, which organizers paid for with corporate sponsorships, according to Coffman. The 2006 festival at Seattle Center cost them $250,000, and they came up short $130,000 to pay for the center and other expenses.

Coffman said the board experienced sticker shock in September when it got Seattle Center's $95,700 bill, which grew to more than $100,000 with late fees.

Center officials said they gave Seattle Out's president an estimate in 2005, and the 2006 bill came in below that estimate. Coffman, who has been on the board for three years, said the president did not relay the information to the board and is no longer with Seattle Out. He said he still wants to have the event at Seattle Center this year.

"We would love to have the Pride festival here in 2007 and in 2008 but ... we're not sure Pride will happen here in 2007," said Kari Shaw, spokeswoman for Seattle Center.

She said they have had almost no communication with Seattle Out until last week, when officials threatened to cancel Pride's 2007 dates. Seattle Out's board then e-mailed Center officials a 2007 budget, which included $65,000 to pay Seattle Center for this year's event and $40,000 in debt service for the 2006 festival. Shaw said the Center did not consider that e-mail a payment plan.

She said the center is also concerned that Seattle Out has not yet shared plans with the Center for this year's event, scheduled for June 23 and 24. Coffman and the board plan to meet with Center officials on March 1 to discuss how it will meet its obligations.

Coffman said the board is weighing many options for its future — charging for admission, changing the parade route to end at Myrtle Edwards Park and becoming a for-profit corporation.

The organization is incorporated as a nonprofit in Washington state but it is not tax-exempt under the federal government's 501© 3 status, which would allow donors to write off donations. Also, it is not registered as a charity under state law, which would allow the state to provide information to the public about where donations go.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com