We have a lot of straight people walking in the parade with us.” LaBasha, the club’s entertainment director, added: “We have a wonderful straight following. “We have seven surrounding counties that we draw from,” Ramirez said. Ramirez calls Sami’s the only gay bar between Cleveland and Columbus. His club will host an after-party Saturday with Pastele as the headliner. Ramirez has run Sami’s for the past year and a half. “We don’t anticipate any problems,” he said. Bret Snavely said officers would provide security - like they do at any public event. “It’s open to everybody, gay and straight,” she said. While LaBasha said organizers have not gotten any backlash - members of two local churches are going to march in the parade - Ramirez is realistic enough to know there could be protestors. “It’s a great opportunity for Mansfield to be put on the map for the LGBT community,” LaBasha said.
Last spring, the Mansfield Gay Pride Association formed and started planning for the festival, which organizers hope will become an annual event.
#FIRST GAY PRIDE PARADE SO EXCITED FREE#
Staff from the AIDS Resource Center also will be on hand to provide free HIV-testing. “It’s all PG-rated,” said Jasmyn LaBasha, one of the festival’s organizers. In addition, there will be an area for kids 11 and younger that will feature a variety of games. There will be 19 vendors on hand, along with entertainment starting at 1 p.m. The festival, which has no charge, starts at noon and goes to 7 p.m. on Maple Street and go to Brinkerhoff and finally to South Park. That community is coming together Saturday for Mansfield’s first Gay Pride Festival at South Park. “There’s a large gay community here,” said Sam Ramirez, owner of Sami’s, 178 Wayne St. MANSFIELD – Everybody knows somebody who is gay, according to the owner of the only gay bar in town.