Long Beach Pride was less hassle thanks to new alcohol policy, official said

A new Long Beach Pride policy on how people purchased alcoholic beverages at the weekend festival made the event a better experience than last year’s, a Pride official said.

Pride officials and attendees complained that last year’s event was chaotic and a fiasco because they received mixed messages from the Califoia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control on which IDs were acceptable to buy alcohol. Wait times to buy beer lasted about an hour.

“Our new policy was well received and a better experience for everyone,” said Frank Rubio, president of Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride, the nonprofit that organizes and the hosts the aual festival and parade. “I didn’t hear any complaints.”

New alcohol policy

For the first time, Pride eliminated tickets to purchase alcohol. Instead, attendees could use cash, credit or debit cards at more than 20 different beverage stations located throughout the festival, which took place Shoreline Drive between Shoreline Village Drive and Alamitos Avenue at Marina Green and Rainbow Lagoon Park.

“With more beverage stations, the lines were shorter,” Rubio said. “People could walk around the whole festival. There wasn’t an urgency to get in the first line they saw.”

Pride also fine-tuned which IDs would be accepted to buy alcohol.

Rubio didn’t have crowd estimates for the two-day festival and parade, which took place along Ocean Boulevard Sunday moing, but Pride estimated last year’s attendance at 80,000.

Parade, festival faces

The grand marshals were former Long Beach resident Thelma Houston, the Grammy Award wiing singer of “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” and Wendell James of the TV series “Raising Whitley.”.

Alteative rock quartet Neon Trees, who performed Sunday, was the festival headliner.

Neon Trees lead singer and keyboardist Tyler Gle, who was Mormon until leaving the church earlier this year, came out as gay in a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone.

The festival and parade is the city’s second largest attended event, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is first.

The event also is one of the largest pride celebrations in county.

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