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    Summer Festival Time!

    Here is a sampling of just some of the many LGBT summer events and festivals happening over the next couple of months.

    Friday, July 18

    Rock Wall Wine Pride Prom

    8-11pm, Alameda. General admission: $20/$25 door. 21+. http://www.rockwallwines.com/events

    Rock Wall Wines presents an 80s themed Pride Prom celebrating equality and love, featuring dance music by DJ Hella Good and more fun with the Pride Prom photo booth. The Prom Queen and King will be selected in a dance contest. Period
    attire is encouraged. Drag performances by Miss Charles Clamson and Dulce De Leche plus custom
    poems by the Poetry Store.

    Wednesday, July 23–Sunday, July 27

    OLAC 25th Anniversary Conference “Lesbian Activism Changing the World”

    Oakand. Full registration: $350. http://www.oloc.org

    Featuring Chrystos, Cherrie Moraga and Dorothy Allison, the conference celebrates the organization’s 25 years of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLAC). The event includes workshops, caucuses, an intergenerational panel, writers’ night, live auction with Alix Dobkin, lesbian tent revival, a pre-conference intensive “The Roots of Our Feminisms, and more.

    Sunday, July 27

    Up Your Alley

    11am-6pm, Dore Alley, SF. 18 and over. Free admission, but a $10 or more donation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the gates gets you $2 off each beverage purchased at a Folsom Street Events beverage booth. http://www.folsomstreetevents.org/upyouralley/

    Organizers say Up Your Alley “is only for real players and not for the faint of heart, where leather daddies rule the streets of San Francisco’s South of Market district. Of course, if rubber, sportswear, biker gear, skinheads, punks, or any variety of built, hairy men turns you on, then we’ve got it.” S&M prevails at over 50 adult vendor spaces.

    Wednesday, July 30–Monday, August 4

    Lazy Bear Weekend

    Guerneville, CA. For men 21 and over. Ticket price: $150. http://www.lazybearweekend.com/main_menu.htm

    This is the 18th Lazy Bear Weekend, the “biggest, hairiest, beefiest, burliest, craziest, laziest FUNdraising event on the planet.” DJ’s, pool parties, a wine tour, “bears in the woods,” movies, “UnderBear Party,” golf, ice cream social, live hosted stage shows and more await. If you’re a bear or a lover of bears, this is definitely the place to be.

    Tuesday, August 5–Sunday, August 10

    Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival

    Varying ticket levels. http://www.michfest.com

    Since 1976, this annual feminist music festival has been “the original womyn’s Woodstock” held in a small wooded area in northern Oceana County, Michigan. The event is completely built, staffed, run and attended by women. It features workshops, vendors and exhibits. Headliners include Cris Williamson, Linda Tillery, Barbara Higbie, Bay Times columnist Karen Williams, Toshi Reagon, Elvira Kurt and many more.

    Wednesday, August 20–Sunday, August 24

    Luscious Queer Music Festival

    festival2Saratoga Springs, CA. Varying ticket levels. http://lusciousqueermusicfestival.org/

    Check out this new LGBT music festival featuring top talent, including Mary Lambert, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, Cris Williamson, Marga Gomez, Matt Alber, Vicki Randle, Page Hodel and many more. In addition to live music, DJs and dancing, activities in the beautiful rustic setting include hiking, swimming in the crystal-clear large swimming pool, soaking in the 19th-century mineral pool or hot pool, labyrinth walks, and star-gazing. The festival benefits ORAM (Organization for Refuge Asylum & Migration) and other non-profits providing legal assistance to international LGBTQ community members seeking asylum.

    Friday, August 22–Sunday, August 24

    CalComMen Community Camp

    Camp Round Meadow, Angelus Oaks, CA. $150. http://www.calcommen.com/#!get_involved/c1yzj

    The California Community of Men (CalComMen), closely aligned with the Billys and the global Radical Faeries, is a new peer-led community of heart-centered, passionate and caring men who create spiritual and social events, as well as weekend celebrations. This summer camping weekend offers participants a chance to get totally “off-the-grid” together, at a 40-acre camp set in the woods, 6000 feet up in the San Bernardino mountains, with lazy warm days among the ancient, towering pines, and clean crisp nights filled with hundreds of stars.

    Friday, August 29th–Monday, September 1

    Kaleidoscope: The Colorful Patterns of Men

    Santa Rosa, CA. Registration: $239-$399 with some financial aid available. http://www.thecmg.org/V5/summer.asp

    Kaleidoscope, a California Men’s gathering on Labor Day weekend, brings participants together to acknowledge and experience individuality and uniqueness. The event in past years has drawn around 200 men, many of whom are LGBT. Anyone who identifies as male, ages 18–80+, is welcome. Organizers encourage attendees to stretch boundaries in fun ways, such as by cutting loose in the audition-free Talent/No Talent show, dancing at the Funky Groovadelic Boogie, mellowing out in the shady Kaleidorific Zen-Zone or getting a groove on in The Rumpus Room. Have a snack in the 24/7 Café yo Mama and hang around in the HANG OUT Lounge and meet other men. The event is held in a beautiful, serene setting that is drug and alcohol-free. A swimming pool and massage cabin are at the site.

    Sunday, August 31

    Oakland Pride Parade +Festival

    festival3Oakland, CA. Parade: 10am, Festival: 10:30am. http://www.oaklandpride.nationbuilder.com

    Located on Telegraph between 48th and 51st Streets, Oakland Pride includes multiple music stages as well as exhibit and vendor booths. Oakland Pride was revitalized in 2009 with the mission of celebrating the diversity of the LGBTQ community in Oakland and the East Bay. Activities for families with children are included. This event is known for being “not too big to enjoy!” But the popular featured musicians, great food, good vibes and more warrant a special trip from other parts of the Bay Area. A BART stop is just steps away and there is street parking, with multiple parking lots also available. We know our community is well represented in Oakland, with the nation’s largest lesbian population residing there, as well as numerous other LGBT individuals and families. Come out and support this fun community event.

    Friday, September 12–Sunday, September 14

    Women’s Weekend Reinvented 2.0

    Russian River, Guerneville, CA. 21+. http://www.womensweekend2.com

    Women’s Weekend 2.0 is the reinvention of the classic lesbian music and comedy festival that has been happening annually on the Russian River (70 miles north of San Francisco) since 1986. The overall theme of the festival is “Practice Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty.” Produced by She She Classy Fun for Wiser Women, this is a new event created by Carmen McKay, one of the original founders of Russian River Women’s Weekend and her partner. Headliners performing at the Monte Rio Amphitheater include Suzanne Westenhoefer, Julie Goldman, Beverly McClellan, Bad Ass Boots, Azucar Con Ache, Tori Roze, Average Dyke Band, Steph Johnson and more. Activities include golf, wine tasting, single’s mixers, crafts, color drop, flash mob and more.

    Sunday, September 21

    Folsom Street Fair

    Folsom Street from 8th to 13th, San Francisco. 18 and over. http://www.folsomstreetevents.org/folsomstreetfair/

    The city’s annual event for leather and fetish enthusiast, Folsom Street Fair attracts around 400,000 attendees. The fair, which is spread out over 13 city blocks, features booths, a massive live stage with top-name indie acts, public play stations, two dance areas, an erotic artists’ area and much more.

    Thursday, September 25–Sunday, September 28

    Fabulosa

    Spinning Wheel, Yosemite, CA. Early Bird discounted rate until 8/15. http://www.fabulosa.org

    Fabulosa is an inclusive, feminist fundraising gathering for women, their families, and friends of all genders. Women produce this annual festival of music, film, crafts, health training and other workshops. For 2014, Fabulosa introduces a breathtakingly beautiful new location near Yosemite that features a waterfall, a gorgeous pool, swimming holes and trees and flowers galore. Headliners include Bad Ass Boots, Average Dyke Band, Tru Bloo & Wanda Kruda, Anita Lofton Project, Hearts of Animals, DJ Chelsea Star and more. Film schedule will be announced soon. Sponsored by El Rio.