2024 PrideFest Parade

This morning (30 June), I drove to downtown St. Louis for the annual PrideFest Parade. After parking in the garage west of Busch Stadium, I walked up to Citygarden to meet up with my fellow Enterprise Mobility colleagues around 10:30 a.m.

We must have had at least 60 employees taking part today, mostly from corporate headquarters. I was one of eight who were to wear a colorful garland of narrow balloons during the parade. I needed a bit of help to get the balloons on me, but I soon got used to them.

The parade was to have started at Noon; however, several protesters delayed the parade's start by about 90 minutes. These people blocked the parade route on Market Street to protest PrideFest accepting sponsorship from Boeing, which the protesters said was helping Israel kill Palestinians in the current Gaza conflict. After the protesters were finally arrested, the parade stepped off. It was tough waiting in the heat for the parade to begin, and a couple of the balloons on my garland popped, but it was great when we finally began marching west on Market.

There was a great crowd along the route and my job--along with the others wearing balloons--was to excite the crowd. We did so by blowing whistles we were issued beforehand, and by walking along the crowds lining Market. I did my part by glad handing people along the route. We were warmly received by the spectators and that was most gratifying.

Besides the employees, Enterprise Mobility had a convertible loaned from Enterprise Rent-A-Car and two trucks--one box, the other stake bed--borrowed from Enterprise Truck Rental. The marchers were ahead of the vehicles during the parade, which went down Market from 10th Street to 16th Street.

We stepped off around 2:00 p.m. and ended the parade about 30 minutes later. After returning the balloon garlands to the box truck, we walked back east through the green spaces immediately north of Market. I stayed around 16th and Market to see the rest of the parade reach this place. I hoped to see Julie march with local Unitarian congregations, but I didn't see her. She texted me to say she was not feeling well and staying home.

I walked east along Market and south to the garage to get back in my car. The Cardinals game had just ended at Busch Stadium (they defeated the Cincinati Reds 2-0), so it took quite a few minutes before I could leave the garage to head home. Traffic was backed up on the street just west of the stadium, but after some minutes I was able to get on Interstate 55 to head south. After stopping by a Wendy's in Mehlville to get dinner, then shopped for groceries at Walmart before finally coming home. I was tired, but most happy to have taken part today and doing my best to show the LGBTQ+ community that this straight male respected them.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

PrideFest St. Louis: Pride St. Louis (pridestl.org)

Enterprise Mobility: Introducing Enterprise Mobility

Citygarden: Citygarden | City of St. Louis Parks (stlouis-mo.gov)

Busch Stadium: Busch Stadium: Home of the Cardinals | St. Louis Cardinals (mlb.com)

Wendy's: Wendy's® | Home of Fresh, Never Frozen Beef Since 1969 (wendys.com)

Walmart: Walmart | Save Money. Live better.

Helping Enterprise Celebrate PrideFest 2019

Last Sunday morning (30 June), I made my way to the Downtown West branch of Enterprise Rent-A-Car (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html). I was there to help prepare some vehicles for that day's PrideFest Parade (https://www.pridestl.org/) through downtown St. Louis. We had a stake bed truck from Enterprise Truck Rental (https://www.enterprisetrucks.com/truckrental/en_US.html#_ga=2.97405727.1020205400.1530151678-1638779697.1529286224) and three convertible cars from Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com/) for the parade. The truck also brought in supplies, such as water for the marchers and candy to give out to parade watchers.

After affixing Enterprise signs to the cars and truck, we drove the vehicles to the staging area on Market Street, immediately south of Kiener Plaza. I drove a Volkswagen Beetle convertible to the site. There, more decorations--including a paper garland in rainbow colors, rainbow flags, and balloons--were mounted on the vehicles.

We waited by the vehicles, which were parked beside the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark Hotel (https://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/missouri/hilton-st-louis-at-the-ballpark-STLBVHF/index.html). More Enterprise employees--mostly from corporate headquarters, but also from rental branches and other operations--arrived in their company t-shirts to march in the parade. Mostly, we waited in the shade, as it was very hot that day. The temperature hit around 100 degrees F (38 degrees C). The drinking water we brought along was a great help. While waiting, my former Enterprise colleague Liz Laskowitz came by to say hello. She was with colleagues from Aon (https://www.aon.com/home/index.html), her current employer, who had assembled near us. We posed for a group picture before the parade began.

The parade began at Noon, but we were near the end of the parade, and did not step off until around 1:20 pm. I got behind the wheel of the Beetle--gingerly, due to the heated seat--and slowly drove off to join in the parade going west on Market. The truck lead off, followed by the walkers, then the Beetle, and then the two other convertibles.

We slowly made our way west, and we received much cheers from the crowd lined along Market. I sometimes took off my hat to wave it to the crowd on both sides of the street. Also, I sometimes gave three toots of the horn, sometimes followed by someone in the crowd saying "Let's go Blues!" (It was just over two weeks before this that the Blues had their Stanley Cup Championship parade, going east on Market.)

Our group passed the reviewing stand across from Soldiers Memorial and greatly appreciated the announcer's shout out. This was the first time I ever drove a vehicle in a parade, and thoroughly enjoyed this moment.

We reached the end of the parade route at 18th and Market, and the vehicles continued west back to the Downtown West Branch. There, we removed the decorations and trash from the vehicles and secured them to be reclaimed by their respective owners the next day. Despite the great heat that day, I felt so happy to help my employer do its part in celebrating the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer (LGBTQ) community. This is personal for me, as I know a friend from high school and another from college, plus the brother of another friend, all of them in the LGBTQ community.

Later.

Volunteer Sunday, Movie Tonight, and Brian in Town

I had a busy day of volunteering last Sunday (24 June). First, I was in downtown St. Louis with about 100 other Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) employees in marching in the St. Louis PrideFest Parade (https://pridestl.org/). After waiting in the staging area for about two hours, we stepped off onto Market Street for the 12-block long parade. We had a truck from Enterprise Truck Rental (https://www.enterprisetrucks.com/truckrental/en_US.html#_ga=2.97405727.1020205400.1530151678-1638779697.1529286224) and three convertibles from Enterprise Car Sales (https://www.enterprisecarsales.com/) with us in the parade. There was a great crowd there, and we got a great response from the crowd. (Perhaps, this response to us was helped by the candy we were throwing out to the crowd.) I was very pleased and happy to march again (my third Pride Fest Parade) to show my support--and Enterprise's--for Lesbian Bisexual Gay Transgendered Queer (LBGTQ) people, including those I know and have come across in life. I am proud to be a straight ally for LBGTQ rights.

Right after the parade ended, I got into my car--parked at St. Louis Union Station (http://www.stlouisunionstation.com/)--and drove to the Kirkwood Community Center (http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/1856/community-center.aspx). There, I was a volunteer at Festa Junina, a Brazilian folk festival presented by Viva Brasil STL (https://www.vivabrasilstl.org/). After checking in, I served as a floating volunteer, mostly clearing dining tables. Festa Junina was very nice; this festival included Brazilian food, children's games, a silent auction, and Brazilian music played by a disk jockey (DJ). They also had Quadrillha (a Brazilian form of square dancing), for children and then for adults, plus a demonstration of Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts) by a local group, Capoeira Luanda St. Louis (http://www.capoeirastl.org/). I then helped to clean up and pack up after the festival. Overall, a long but satisfying afternoon.

Back at work Monday morning, it was busy, but we got it done. During my lunch break, I contacted customer service at CREDO Mobile (https://www.credomobile.com/) regarding my replacement mobile phone. After about 40 minutes on the phone, they were able to fix the problem with my phone not getting service. The SIM card for this phone was not set to my phone number. CREDO Mobile fixed the problem at their end and my phone is working good now.

Off work today, I went downtown to help Mom find the hotel where my brother Brian (http://www.bddrums.com/) stayed the night. He arrived the night before with Melissa Etheridge (https://melissaetheridge.com/), for whom Brian plays drums. Brian spent the day at home with Mom and I. That included watching some FIFA World Cup (https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/) matches on TV. (Vamos Brasil!) Etheridge performs tomorrow night at the Sheldon Concert Hall (http://www.thesheldon.org/). Looking forward to that. More on the concert in my next post.

Tonight, I went to the Saint Louis Science Center (https://www.slsc.org/) to join with other Missouri Aviation Historical Society (https://moavhist.org/) members in watching a screening of "Aircraft Carrier: Guardian of the Seas" (https://www.slsc.org/omnimax/aircraft-carrier/) on the center's OMNIMAX theater. It was a terrific documentary of modern aircraft carrier operations, filmed during a RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) exercise.

Later

Phone Issues, Scale Modelling, and Apollo 11

After a busy day at work Monday (18 June), I arrived home to find my replacement phone, which had been sent by my insurance firm. (My phone, which I got two months ago, developed a problem in its power receptacle, which prevented me from charging up the phone that way.) I powered up the phone and got my files and apps transferred to the new phone Wednesday morning; however, the SIM card I transferred from my old phone would not work on the new one, so I could not use it for phone calls, texting, and using apps (except the camera). My service provided did send me a replacement SIM card, which arrived yesterday. So far, things are working well with the phone.

After work Tuesday, it was off to Calvary Presbyterian Church (http://calvarypresbyterianchurch.org/) for this month's meeting of IPMS/Gateway (https://plus.google.com/109625362829756697296) (https://www.facebook.com/IPMSGateway/). We began our annual membership renewal cycle, had a demo by Marion Morris on two lines of model paints, we began having Member Spotlight questionnaires distributed and filled out, and we had our Model of the Month "Beauty Contest." It worked out well.

Off work Wednesday, I went to the Saint Louis Science Center (https://www.slsc.org/), where I visited their special exhibit, "Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission." This was from the Smithsonian (https://www.si.edu/) and looked at humanity's first landing on the Moon in July of 1969. The exhibit--which runs here until 3 September--includes the Apollo 11 command module Columbia, items used by the astronauts who made the tip, and a look at St. Louis' role in this journey. Being the spaceflight buff that I am, I really enjoyed this exhibit. It brought back good memories for me; I was five years old when Apollo 11 happened. I highly recommend this exhibit.

At home today, I mowed the back and front lawns, and watched on TV the FIFA World Cup (https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/). This included the rather thrilling at the end match between Germany and Sweden.

Tomorrow, I'm doing two volunteer stints, back to back. First, I'll be joining other Enterprise (https://www.enterprise.com/en/home.html) colleagues in marching in downtown St. Louis' PrideFest Parade (https://pridestl.org/). Then, I head to the Kirkwood Community Center (http://www.kirkwoodmo.org/content/City-Departments/1856/community-center.aspx) to help out at Festa Junina, a Brazilian folk festival organized by Viva Brasil STL (https://www.vivabrasilstl.org/). Hope to see you at either or both of those events.

Later.