Page 4 HIGH GEAR November 1980

Festival '80 termed success

By STEVE KASPER

(CLEVELAND) A sunny and humid day late in September added much to the very successful Festival '80. Sponsored by the Northern Ohio Coalition, Inc. the festival got under way at 11:00 AM at Wildwood Lake Park in Columbia Township and was well packed by 1:00.

It was truly a festival for all with games, prizes, disco, swimming. food, live shows and variety of games of skill including a dunking booth Informational booths were also sponsored by Dignity and the GEAR Foundation.

The official count at the Festival was 1,448. Swimmers were in such abundance that the park officials kept the slides and boats open for an additional 2 1/2 hours

The shows-which ran all daystarted with Cuyahoga Ltd. That singing group was followed By Ba Na Na Guest spots included Rainsong. Mudslide Micky. Antvine the Magician and Dianne

Fishman. Mistress of ceremonies was Lambda Entertainer of the Year Cathy Craig with Crystal Starr-Miss Youngstown 1980. and Melissa Rose-twice Miss Gay Ohio.

Five local DJ's from Traxx. New Dimensions and.Exedra provided the continuous disco in the Pavilion for 7 1/2 hours That kol the discoers happy and pro-

• some entertainment for

those waiting in the food line.

For the people of NOCI the day started at 5:00 AM when various equipment was packed, prizes loaded and booths readied for the trip out to Wildwood.

NOCI is to be commended on a job well down/The picnic was organized and ran smoothly all day. There were no serious incidents..

The Staff of the park was so pleased with ga y community that it consented to hold the picnic there again in '81-on Sept. -13.

There were over 100 prizes donated for the raffles by area gay businesses. Several are still unclaimed. They have been notified and prizes can be picked up at the Club Baths on W. 9th.

10000000

Ray and Company at the Crown

By Bill Suhay

On October 3rd and 4th, the Crown Cafe, 4153 Lorain Ave.,

Cleveland, was the scene of a one-man show called Ray and Company. It featured Ray Ches-

nick, a member of the musical group Cuyahoga Ltd., doing a live singing act.

Accompanied by a pianist, drums, bass and harpist, Ray sang classic show tunes and original parodies. He showed a delightful comic flair in his banter with the audience.

Dressed in a black and white tuxedo in the first half of the show and a surgical uniform in the second half, Ray was enthusiastically received by the audience at all four of his shows.

Ray also performed an impromtu duet with Tony Lo Castro, the organizer of Cuyahoga Ltd.

The October 3rd 11 p.m. show es e benefit for the GEAR oundatic with all of Ray's and a third of the door going to

GEAR. A total of $160 was coltected and presented to Earl Korb, treasurer of the GEAR

Foundation, who thanked Ray and the Crown for their generosity.