DallasPride / Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade

I wanted to connect all dots of all the LGBT festivals in Texas starting this year. This time, it’s my experience from Houston to Dallas. Few coworkers and I drove over 240 miles to meet our «extended colleagues» in Dallas for this spectacular Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade.
It was sensational to be at a parade during the day. It felt like walking on a giant stage. There were much more interactions than at Houston’s night parade. The timing was perfect. Late September is usually cooler, but with chances of rain. Lucky us, we had a cloudy day.
This year, the Miller Lite Festival in The Park moved from Lee Park to Reverchon Park to accommodate more people. Since this was my first time attending, I could not compare. But it was crowded on the festival ground as the parade ended. The stage, which had a natural formed of an amphitheater. The «seating» area slopes down for maximum viewing. They also had a kid’s area called Family PRIDE Zone with a giant slide and moon walk.
According to a news report, there were about 40,000 celebrants at the DallasPride festivity. The 2.5-mile parade started at 2 pm, while festival started at 11 am and ended at 7 pm. So, the actual festival started right after parade ended around 5 and the Ty Herndon concert at 5:30. When I left the festival ground around 6:30, people were still lined up to buy ticket to get in.
To me, $ 5 is worthy of what they had — easy to walk through the vendor’s section and a handful of securities to control the crowd. I just didn’t have enough time to enjoy the festival and visit every booth.