PRIDE GUIDE 1998 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE C-13
Asians and Friends from two cities to join for Pride
Labor Day gathering to make Cleveland the 'Far East of the Midwest'
by Howard Gollop Cleveland-For the second year in a row, Asians and Friends Cleveland will join its Pittsburgh counterpart for a special Far East Dragon March for Cleveland Pride '98. But both groups will have more than Pride on their agendas.
In addition to celebrating Pride weekend, Pittsburgh will also be helping Cleveland's Asians and Friends promote one of the biggest international gay events ever to hit Cleveland, International Friendship Weekend '98 this Labor Day weekend, September 4-7.
"We expect some 300 men and women from Tokyo, London, Paris, Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago to meet right here in Cleveland," said Rollie Santos, president of Asians and Friends Cleveland, a multi-racial social organization with an outreach to gay Asians in Northeast Ohio.
"This is an event that usually happens every year only in major cities like New York, London or Los Angeles," Santos said. "But apparently the Asians and Friends International committee thought our rock and roll city was ripe for a world-class gay event.”
Cleveland has many attributes for a convention such as International Friendship Weekend '98, according to Santos. "Even people who live here are surprised by all the great stuff to do in Cleveland.
Santos said the convention will make use of the city's many great cultural and recreational amenities, such as Sea World, the Asian collection and special Buddhist exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Taste of Cleveland festival in the Flats,
Chinatown, the Goodtime III, and Playhouse Square Center, where the convention will hold a theater party at Hanna Cabaret's Forbidden Broadway.
There is also a special volleyball tournament scheduled at the very gay-friendly Edgewater Park beach during the convention.
The Sheraton City Centre will be the host hotel for the convention, and will be the site for one of the convention's main events, a special cultural pageant and talent show called "AsianAwe." The 90minute show will feature talent from around the world.
"It'll be a great for the entire Cleveland community to celebrate this special weekend," Santos said. "We'll be making a certain number of tickets available to the general public for donations of $20 per person," he said, adding that special show and dinner packages are available for patron donations of $50 per person.
ASIANS AND FRIENDS
A dance troupe entertaines visitors to "Fantasia," at last year's International Friends Weekend in Los Angeles.
Santos noted that whereas most worldclass cities have special all-Asian bars, the Grid nightclub will become the Asian bar in Cleveland during the convention weekend.
"I believe the bar will be calling itself "Asian-arama," Santos said. "They'll be doing their usual magical decor makeover, and we're even trying to get the latest Asian dance music and dancers on hand for the weekend."
To participate in the entire weekend, call up the special International Friendship Weekend
ASIANS AND FRIENDS
Members of Asians and Friends Cleveland and Pittsburgh pose before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a joint gathering last summer.
web site at http://www.longyangclub.com/ cleveland/IFW98.html.
To attend the special AsianAwe dinner or the show, call 440-891-9121 or send a check or money order to IFW '98 AsianAwe, 16465 Heather Lane Suite 204, Middleburg Heights, Ohio 44130.
"Be sure to check out our booth for Pride," Santos added. "Say hello to us and our Pittsburgh friends. We'll have all the information about this unbelievable event as well as information about our group."
Howard Gollop is chair of International Friendship Weekend '98.
Friendship weekend
Reservations for International Friendship Weekend '98 are going, going... but not gone, yet. Cleveland's IFW '98 has had the highest pre-sale of any previous convention, passing the 100-registrant mark.
The going rate for the entire weekend is $175, still barely a break-even rate for Cleveland, considering all the deluxe frills included in the gala weekend, including: A lavish piano bar reception in the Sheraton lobby.
A PanAsian brunch at the hotel.
Dim Sum at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Cleveland's Chinatown. Beach Volleyball and a wiener roast at Cleveland's gay Edgewater beach with sand and everything!
A lavish entertainment spectacular, “AsianAwe.”
Exclusive cast party at the Grid's Asianarama dance bar.
A luxury dinner-dance cruise aboard the triple-decker Goodtime III, joined by gay athletes from around the country for Cleveland's Midwest Invitational Softball Tournament.
Admission to the lavish outdoor food orgy called Taste of Cleveland.
Admission to the Cleveland Museum of Art's internationally acclaimed Asian art collection (featuring ancient gay Japanese scrolls).
Discounts for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and all other museums, the International Air Show, trolley tours and Sea World.
Registration fees go up to $225 after June, and the committee unfortunately has to cap its convention registration to 240.
More information is available by calling Jeff Yu at 216-891-9121, Howard Gollop at 216-226-6080 or Michael Chew at 216-749-2399. The official travel agent for IFW '98 is Phil Goldberg at Flight Travel, who can be reached at 800-544-3881.
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