Interview With Verotica, and Full Pride Weekend Details

Pride Month is celebrated nationwide every June to recognize lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer leaders throughout history, and their impact on American society.  What started out as “Gay Pride Day” is now an entire month full of events and celebrations such as parades, picnics, parties, workshops, and even club takeovers. Verotica Events takes Pride month to heart every year and works hard to provide special event spaces for participants to celebrate at. We had a chance to interview them about Seattle Pride weekend and their unique part.

DMNW: Historically nightclubs have been a safe haven for the LGBTQ community, do you still believe this to be true?

VE: Umm yeah I guess I think that it is still a great place where people can gather. I think that since times have changed … its not as intimidating to go to places that are not designated gay clubs … So I don’t feel there is such of a “haven” because you are only allowed at specific bars like maybe it was in the past … Especially in a city like Seattle we are really fortunate that we can go over to Ballard and leave Capital Hill or go out anywhere and still feel welcomed in the city. So yeah I say I still definitely think it is nice to have our designated clubs, we really do appreciate that, but it is definitely not the same feeling since we have more straight crowds visiting our clubs nowadays too.

DMNW: With this being the second year of partying at “Foundy”, why was it chosen over a Capitol Hill club? Was it because Foundation is the type of environment not offered anywhere else?

VE: Yeah for sure If you compare it to other clubs on Capitol Hill, you’ll have people there taking off their shirts on a regular basis. But at Foundation obviously they obviously do have a dress code. That’s one thing we did when we partnered with them … they allowed us to be a little more ‘lax for Pride since we do have themes. So Friday we have kind of like a start your engines race car theme. Saturday night is “Kingdom” which is like an animal kingdom theme … People get to wear costumes a little bit more … it is not as strict since people do like to dress up. We thought it would be fun. Tying back in to why we picked Foundation night club … I mean it is one of the top 100 nightclubs in the world. It hosts some amazing headliners and the LED design is nationally recognized. You can’t compete with the vibe and the quality … its like a luxury night life venue … we are very fortunate to be there.

DMNW: Yes, a pride takeover there is definitely going to be more special than a pride takeover at say, Neighbors, or something like that.

VE: Yeah and that is the thing … Pride is super special because its something we get to do once a year in the city. As much as I love all the clubs on Capital Hill, that are designated gay clubs throughout the year, it is nice to take a break and do something different.

DMNW: Absolutely. Variety is the spice of life. Are any of the proceeds going to support LGBTQ charities or anything like that?

VE: In the past we have worked with a couple LGBTQ community charities but this year we are actually developing an event called Queen Crawl … that is where we have been investing …  in the past we have helped Gay City but this year we just have Queen Crawl and we are working with five non profits to support that. Its going to go live after Pride weekend … the five that we are supporting are Lifelong, Human Rights Campaign, Seattle Humane Society. Gender Justice league, and the Lambert House. What Queen Crawl is … it’s a drag queen bar crawl that people get to sponsor people to do drag and they get to choose who they want people to support when they do it. You get your own unique landing page to raise money for the organization you have chosen, we call them “guilds” … the crawl itself is just for fun on July 28th, but up until the 28th you are raising money for your cause.

DMNW: So what you have envisioned for pride weekend … how does it compare to those Bangkok Circuit parties?

VE: OMG … Well … I have been going to circuit parties throughout the United States, the world and cruises and stuff and I love to take little bits and pieces of creativity that I felt they did really well at each party. One thing I loved was called Gay Circuit – they made you feel like you entered a different world and I loved the creative aspect of that. I don’t want it to just feel like you enter a club – so we are working obviously with Foundation Nightclub to make custom led graphics for both Friday and Saturday night … but I would say our main event actually … we are doing a block party in Capital Hill on Pike Street with Redhook Brewlab … that is where we are really focusing on making it an experience. We have tons of decorations. We have a theme that is gonna be like an oasis. We are making it feel like you are entering some kind of hidden area with tons of flowers coming in and tons of vines. There will be a couple of water features and six gogo dancers that day.

DMNW: So what type of music can people expect at the block party?

VE: With circuit parties there is a lot of tribal, where you can hear a very dance-able beat. It is so easy to dance to. And then the block party is a T-Dance. T-Dances tend to be like daytime dances that usually land on a Sunday … but the type of music will be more locals because it is during the day. Very danceable with a tribal beat still, just more vocals … one thing that I think is really fun is that they made a glitter beer to drink there as well. … it is specifically brewed for our T-Dance. It is called Highly Verotic Pale Ale from Redhook Brew Labs.

All in all, Verotica Events is extremely excited to pave the path for a great Pride weekend again this year. In total, 4 events are being hosted at Foundation, Kremwerk and the streets of Capital Hill – all featuring international DJ’s. They are shutting down Pike Street Sunday for their first ever T-Party and bringing people together so that they do not forget that they are not alone. Doors open at 10PM at Foundation on Friday and Saturday and the after party at Kremwerk on Saturday goes past sunrise, from 3am to 7am. Not very often do we see clubs open all night, so VE is calling big shots and we wish them the best! RSVP on Facebook to see if your friends will be there, links below!

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https://www.facebook.com/events/1568804773236828/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1770273456364284/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1968801913371625/

https://www.facebook.com/events/430618450726722/

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