Hamilton's inaugural LGBT Pride Week finished yesterday with a Picnic Day in Hukanui Park, Gordonton, and now organisers are looking at ideas for their second festival of events in late 2008.
A showing of camp classic movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show attracted a large crowd to Hamilton's Victoria Cinema on Wednesday evening, and Lesbian Quiz Night and Shine nightclub's Silver Christmas Party were successful events at the weekend.
Hamilton Gay Men's Health promoter Geoff Rua'ine says the weather for yesterday's Gordonton Picnic Day wasn't ideal, but he was impressed to see around 60 people braving the drizzle to attend the whanua fun day, complete with live performances from Slash & Burn and Miss Gloriousole.
"The grey day might have put a lot of people off… but we made the call to go with it at 10am, and in Gordonton it wasn't raining too much - it was a little bit windy and cloudy though," Rua'ine explains. "It was good - we carried on with all our activities and had fun."
Hamilton's NZ AIDS Foundation staff will meet this week to reflect on their first Pride Week and go through ideas for next year.
"The feedback has been really positive," says Rua'ine. "I think generally we achieved what we set out to do, which was to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and bring our community together."