Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! To so many people who were involved in making Out in the Park at Six flags Great America 2013 a huge success.  BestGayChicago.com  alone, could not make this event happen without the help and support from our peers.  Our media sponsors  Stacy  Bridges and Mark Nagle from GRAB Magazine,  Mark Mariucci from QUEST Magazine in Wisconsin, Bill Pritchard and the staff of  ChicagoPride.com and the staff of  Zona Rosa Magazine all donated thousands of dollars in advertising, well exceeding our expectations  and everyone really pitched in and went above and beyond!  And a huge thanks to Mini Cooper of Chicago, our co-producer.

We always say, It takes a village to pull this off. This is not the Michael and Derrick  BestGayChicago.com show. It’s a community effort coming together for the greater good.  And an All Inclusive event. Almost   5,000 people came out this year to support the event and were so grateful. Six Flags Great America is willing to give our community an entire private Sunday 11am to 6pm but we have to deliver 10,000 attendees-we will get to that point-we’re determined to make it happen, that is the end all goal and feel  our community is ready to support an all day private event.

We all need to find our own ways to serve; our own ways to give back.  Our business on its own cannot write a big check to charity. However, we have a sizable network within our business, the relationship resources, strong partners and advocates, and ideas to collaborate and bring the community together – and all help write this year’s check, for almost $11,000!!  This check is not from BestGayChicago.com – it’s from the  ENTIRE community. We were just the instruments to  help make it all happen.

Thanks  to Jess Godwin and Isaiah Grass for their super live vocal performances.  Teri Yaki, Debbie Fox and Cyon Flare all helped entertain the crowds.  DJ Matthew Harvat always delivers a great evening of music and this year Scarlet’s Scotty T and Team Scarlet got the evening off and running with a bang. Walgreens helped spread the word this year through many of their stores.  Scarlet, Taverna 750, Charlies and Lucky Horseshoe also helped with promotions and support.

Thank you to all of the volunteers and brand ambassadors who helped us spread the word. And most of all – thank you to YOU WHO BOUGHT THE TICKETS and came out and had a great time!

It is a huge risk to orchestrate an outdoor event a year in advance in the Midwest.  Thankfully, we had  a gorgeous Fall day.  Kohls had bought out the park for the next day for employees and their families, the temperature dropped dramatically and it rained and rained hard most of the day. How lucky we were that was not our day this year, we would have been very negatively affected.

Six Flags Great America also did an amazing job of emptying the park in a record 45 minutes. They closed to the general public at 7pm and were able to allow us to begin entering at 7:45pm into an EMPTY park.

We will be doing a similar Gay Days party at Six Flags St. Louis on a Saturday night, June 7, 2014 and we’ll be back to Gurnee next September on a Saturday night for Out In The Park 2014 as well. And we have one more AMAZING party event in the planning stages for 2014, a private, charity-based, Water Park, 12-hour Saturday Night Dance Party in late Winter/early Spring unlike anything the Midwest has ever been able to enjoy before….stay tuned for all the details.

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Michael Snell

Derrick Sorles

BestGayChicago.com