Volunteers needed for Napa Valley Pride

So, I just got back from a weekend over in Sonoma County for Sonoma County Pride, and got a heavy dose of inspiration on how to make a rockin', down-home, LGBT Pride parade and festival. This year Sonoma County held their pride festivities in Guerneville, a town of about 7,000 people--albeit a town thought of as the Castro in the North Bay, a sort of gay-vacation, home-away-from-home, country style. But, what with Sonoma County's huge population and excellent planning, they had hundreds and hundreds show up for the noon-time parade and hundreds and hundreds for their festival in the meadow...dunking booths, jugglers, non-profits, food, DJ, live bands, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, hunky bears and so much more...

I'm looking forward to something amazing happening in Napa, now!

Well nothing can happen without great people making it happen, so here's your chance to get involved. These are from the planning notes for Napa Pride's planning group, and what they are currently recruiting help for, for Napa Valley Pride:

1) Stamp "Friends of Oxbow" cards
We'll be handing out "Friends of Oxbow" cards at events. That way, people attending the Recovery Brunch will be able to receive the normal discounts offered by the Oxbow merchants. I've bought a rubber stamp that we'll need to place affix to 500 Oxbow cards. This is "brain-dead, sitting in front of the TV" type work.

2) Create Silent Auction Billboards
These will be placed on the table in back of silent auction items. They'll advertise and describe the item. Folks that volunteer for this will come over to my place and we'll get really creative - printing and pasting onto posterboard or something like it.

3) Distribute Posters
You'll help promote the Pride events by taking posters to business throughout the valley and asking them to post them in their windows.

4) Pick-up Silent Auction Items
Some donors have asked us to pick-up their donations. You'll call the business and arrange a time to pick-up their items and then go get them. You probably should be 21 or over to do this since many of these businesses are wineries.

5) Help with Set-up of Pride Celebration
Show up at Veteran's Park at 8am on Saturday and help set things up - hang signs, direct vendors and non-profit agencies to their tables, etc.

6) Collect Donations/Sell Wristbands/Distribute Oxbow Cards - Pride
Celebration
All we need is an hour of your time. Under 21 encouraged!

7) Monitor Food Vendors - Pride Celebration
This is a requirement of the city. We just need to keep an eye on anyone selling food and beverages. Again, this is only a 1-hour commitment.

8) Help with Clean-up - Pride Celebration
Ensure that the park is clean. Help the folks from New Tech High School if necessary. Take down signs. Help DJ Rotten Robbie carry stuff to his car. We'll be making announcements throughout the day encouraging folks to keep the area clean.

9) Fill Balloons with Prizes THEN Helium - Beringer
Put the tickets for the balloon raffle prizes in a balloon, fill it with helium, tie on a string. That's it! You can be under 21 for this assignment - just don't get it in your head to try to get Beringer to serve you wine!

10) Set up Silent Auction Tables - Beringer
Use your skills as a designer setting up and layout the silent auction items at Beringer. Again, you can be under 21 but no drinking!

11) Sell Wristbands/Distribute Oxbow Cards - Beringer
As people are entering the Twilight T-Dance, you'll sell them a Napa Valley Pride wristband and give them an Friend of Oxbow card. This assignment will go from 6-7:30 pm on Saturday, 6/20. You'll need to be 21 or older to take on this assignment.

12) Hand-out Flyers/Sell Wristbands - Oxbow
Hand out flyers that describe the offerings at the various Oxbow merchants. Sell wristbands if there are any left. Again, this is just a one-hour assignment during the Recovery Brunch.

If you're interested in taking on any of these assignments please send an email to the Pride Planning coordinator at napkinrick@comcast.net