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Great Beach, Gorgeous Bodies, and Elephants -
Phuket Pride 2007 big success
By Dansee

Never done before in the 7 year history of Phuket Gay Pride Festival, this year the 8th Annual Phuket Pride Festival "Be Free and Happy" was held on Patong Beach; truly Sand, Sea and Fun. Four nights and 3 days of gay extravaganza, with a Red Carpet Party in Paradise, a Carnival at Loma Park, a brilliant opening and closing fireworks display presented by Club One Seven, the Baan Yin Dee Beach Volleyball tournament, the Seduction Discotheque Beach Boy contest. The finale was the Grand Pride parade, and nightly party featuring national and international artists and entertainers, such as Miss Gay Universe 2006 - Candi Stratton, DJ Maxxx, DJ Mikey Mike, DJ Little Monkey, DJ Paolo Bardelli, DJ Nat, and Khun Day.

This year the Phuket Pride Festival comprised a huge 3 day Carnival on the Beach, officially launched by the Mayor of Patong Municipality; Khun Pian and his Deputy Mayor; Khun Chairat. Immediately following the ribbon cutting we were entranced by a brilliant fireworks display, sponsored by Club One Seven Bed & Breakfast. Complimenting the stunning stage, designed by Khun Wut of Hiranyikara Spa, the carnival was supported by more than 36 vendors, such as Singha Beer, Suzuki, Seduction Discotheque, Loxley Trading - Joyce Gel for Men, Patong Hospital MSM Project, Boat Bar Disco, Club One Seven Bed & Breakfast Boutique Hotel, Hiranyikara Spa, Sby Sby Bar, Sby Leisure Travel & Tour, Sby Web Hosting, Knud's Bar Thai Best Boys, La Diva Restaurant, James Dean Bar, James Dean and Friends Bar, Orchid Bar, Time Bar, Maprang Bar, and many others. The renowned Phuket Mafia team, led by Khun David Mitchelhill, won the overall championship Beach Volleyball tournament, and took away more than 20,000 baht in prizes. Khun Ko representing Club One Seven Bed & Breakfast won both the titles of Mr. Popular and Mr. Seduction Beach Boy Championship, winning over 50,000 baht in prizes.

The highlight of the yearly Phuket Pride Festival is still of course the Grand Parade on the last day along the 3km long Patong beach road, and drew more than twenty thousand spectators. This year, more than 17 floats representing gay and gay friendly hotels, bars, disco, restaurants and Patong Hospital, took part. Thank to Khun Knud for bringing back the elephants into the parade, which were widely missed last year. The pachyderms are truly unique to Phuket gay pride and have become the signature feature of the Phuket Pride grand parade. To reach out to broader community, this year's parade ended at the Patong Soccer Stadium across from the beach carnival, in order for the evening to continue with a party on the beach. To thanks the committee for their hard works, Club One Seven Bed & Breakfast sponsored another dramatic fireworks display to end the festival with a bang.

The Phuket Pride executive committee has indeed taken the Phuket Pride Festival to a higher level. Of course the success of this year Phuket Pride Festival has only been achieved through our generous sponsors as listed below:

1. Mr. Arnaud Verstraete of www.phuket-town.com
2. Singha Beer
3. Boat Bar Disco in Paradise Complex, Patong
4. Club One Seven Bed & Breakfast in Patong
5. Mr. David Mitchelhill from the United Kingdom
6. Loxley Trading, Joyce Gel for Men
7. Seduction Discotheque in Bangla Road, Patong
8. Layalina Hotel in Kamala
9. CC Blooms Hotel in Kata
10. Knud's Bar Thai Best Boys in Paradise Complex, Patong
11. Suzuki Motors
12. Chameleon Management Co., Ltd. in Phuket
13. Purple Dragon, www.purpledrag.com
14. Connect Guesthouse in Paradise Complex, Patong
15. Desoto Moveis Ltd. in Swtizerland

On behalf of the Phuket Pride Association, we would like to extend our utmost gratitude to those who supported to this year Phuket Pride Festival 2007, and we look forward to bringing to you another great festival of excitement in 2008.

For more information about our future events, please check out www.phuketpride.org.