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San Diego's Champion of Pride Araceli “Cheli” Mohamed “Our online advance sales are up over last year, and we’re seeing a tremendous increase in Facebook activity leading up to this year’s parade and festival.”
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“We’re hearing from the various contingents in the parade, which recruit people to participate, that they’ve never seen numbers like this - 100 to 200 marching per contingent where it’s usually 10 to 40,” said Fernando Lopez, public affairs director for San Diego LGBT Gay Pride, the nonprofit behind the fourth largest pride event in the nation. Organizers are predicting that attendance, typically as much as 240,000 over three days, could swell to well over 300,000. Pastry chefs are embellishing hundreds of cupcakes with rainbow frosting and mini flags, downtown hotels are hosting celebratory pool parties, and Hillcrest restaurants are bringing in extra staff in anticipation of a Pride-filled weekend that’s expected to be the biggest ever.Ĭredit last month’s groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage for bringing even greater attention than normal to the annual three-day festival and parade, which is billed as San Diego’s largest one-day civic event.