By Donna Sachet—
San Francisco is the home and birthplace of Dykes on Bikes® where they rightfully start every SF Pride Parade, roaring up Market Street with pride and joy. On Friday, April 24, 2026, they celebrated 50 years with a party and fundraiser at Rikki’s on Market Street, co-sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Times, with both Betty Sullivan and Jennifer Viegas in attendance, and believe us, the Lesbian Community showed up. We were frankly astonished at the number of women and a few men socializing amicably all night. We emceed the festivities as DJ Christie James kept the music coming.
Dykes on Bikes® President Kate Brown auctioned off a small selection of items with great success, including an SF Giants autographed baseball and a Valkyries souvenir basketball. But the top grossing item was the chance to ride with the Dykes on Bikes® this June in the SF Pride Parade with two determined bidders fighting to the end and raising over $3000. We presented the second bidder with a consolation prize of Dykes on Bikes® merchandise. Elected officials came by to wish everyone well and we even heard from the attorney who historically took the Dykes on Bikes® case to the Supreme Court, Brooke Oliver! Members of the Board of the Rainbow Honor Walk presented Rikki’s owners Sara Yergovich and Danielle Thoe with a reproduction of Rikki’s bronze plaque on Market Street. This was truly a night of history, celebration, and power!
Gala season came to a smashing end, at least for us, with the SF Gay Men’s Chorus’ Crescendo last Saturday night. The Westin St. Francis Ballroom was packed with choral supporters, dressed to the nines and ready to offer generous donations. We invited good friend Eddy Skees to join us and he was the perfect guest. This gala always pleases with music from members of the chorus sprinkled throughout and heartfelt stories of the power of music. Michael Tate, chorus member and popular auctioneer, once again proved his worth both with the live auction and Fund-in-Need.
The biggest crowd-pleasing surprise was when he auctioned off dinner at Chez Panisse with Rita Moreno who was looking splendid that night. The bidding was quite brisk, but as Ms. Moreno tempted the bidders with more and more perks, Michael was able to quadruple the offer, ending up with four dinner dates and $100,000 from that item alone! Ms. Moreno made it happen. Many times during the night, speakers, including elected officials like Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, praised the contributions of outgoing Chief Executive Officer Chris Verdugo, who will be dearly missed. As loyal readers of this column know, the SF Gay Men’s Chorus is very dear to our heart since we joined it after our first year here in San Francisco, so watching them produce such a successful event was wonderful.
On Sunday, despite our protestations, Gary Virginia pulled out all the stops with a party at The Café to celebrate the birthday of this humble columnist, as well as to present a check for income from Krewe de Kinque’s earlier Bal Masque, and to raise some money to support a member of the club with a health emergency. The Café was awash in red balloons and over 20 performers offered production numbers of all kinds. We even surprised the audience with a Donna Summer song, “MacArthur Park.”
We saw friends from all the many chapters of our life and many of the other Castro bars and truly felt valued and appreciated. Over $2000 was raised, a check for over $7000 was presented to Openhouse, and another birthday was recognized and celebrated. A huge thank you to Gary for producing such an epic event and to all those who took time to come by for our celebration.
There will be lots coming up as we turn the corner towards the biggest month of the year and SF Pride celebrations. Keep watching this column for all the latest information. Make 2026 the year you really show your pride!
Sunday, May 17
Spotlight on Broadway
SF Pride Band & guests
Grand Theater,
2665 Mission Street
5 pm $55 & up
www.sfprideband.org
Friday, May 22
The Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club
50th Anniversary Gayla
Dinner, awards, and concert
San Francisco Design Center Galleria
101 Henry Adams Street
6 pm $150 & up
https://www.milkclubgayla.org/
Thursday, May 28
Celebrating AAPI Bay Area LGBTQ+
Women Leaders & Allies
Emcees Madeleine Lim and Nguyen Pham
Special guest honoree
Margaret Cho
DJ China G
The Academy SF
2166 Market Street
$15 & up
https://www.academy-sf.com/
Donna Sachet is a celebrated performer, fundraiser, activist, and philanthropist who has dedicated over two decades to the LGBTQ Community in San Francisco. Contact her at empsachet@gmail.com
Donna’s Chronicles
Published on May 7, 2026
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