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We’ve had sound systems get so hot that one-time a well-meaning bar manager was planning to cool one with bags of ice, and our events have been so steamed up that a couple of girls once tried to climb out a second storey window so they could toss water balloons from the rooftop, but the proof that our parties totally rock came the first time we held our Chicas at Pride event in the Gabriola Mansion.

Chicas at Pride is a huge, outdoor, afternoon garden party. Spirits are always high – it’s Pride afternoon, it’s summer. Everyone waits for this day all year round and when it comes the girls are scantily clad with their hair all done up. Short of nuclear blast, nothing could take them off their game.

Put all that feisty energy into an incredible setting, like Gabriola Mansion, and it’s a recipe for a fabulous party.

So there we are in this gorgeous, 120 year-old stone house in Vancouver’s West End, built with 24-inch Douglas fir beams and an eight-foot diameter chandelier and surrounded by well tended gardens. It’s about 7:00pm and the party is in full swing. We’re feeling like everything’s perfect when a manager pulls Leigh aside and says,“The girls are dancing so much upstairs the whole second floor is shaking,” then he adds “And the chandelier downstairs is swinging too.“

In a concrete building, things might have cracked, but with those big wooden beams, the whole floor just swayed with the dancers. We had to limit how many people could be upstairs for the rest of the night, which momentarily slowed the energy down, but once we told the girls what was happening, they were pretty proud of it and danced even harder downstairs.

When we came back the next day, the staff was cleaning up and one of the guys told us that when he arrived the chandelier had been hanging from its bolts. – There is a safety rod, so it wouldn’t have fallen out of the ceiling, but it certainly had seen some action.

We outgrew the Mansion a couple of years ago, and this year Chicas will be in another new spot – the Plaza in front of Queen Elizabeth theatre. It’s a totally terrific setting. We’re hoping it will be our home for the next few years. But even if it’s only for this year, the thing about Chicas at Pride is that it really doesn’t matter where it happens, the event has its own particular magic – it’s Pride afternoon, everyone is happy, all kinds of people come out and everyone’s in the spirit of dressing up. It’s what Vancouver is all about.

For all the details on Pride 2011, check out our Pride Event listings.

mandy

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