Busy week for Bristol gays

By Dave McElhill • August 16, 2006 - 0:00

Over the week leading to the Mardi Gras the FRINGE group has planned a number of film, poetry, art and theatre events

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Bristol is preparing to hold its annual Mardi Gras Festival, with the organisers hoping to bring 10,000 people to the city during the week long event.

The Bristol FRINGE event has been running all week, beginning last Sunday, with its closing party planned for the same day as the Mardi Gras on Saturday 19 August.

Over the week leading to the Mardi Gras the FRINGE group has planned a number of film, poetry, art and theatre events across over half a dozen venues in the city, attracting over a thousand people throughout the week of cultural celebrations.

This coming Saturday the Mardi Gras festival will swing into action with numerous live acts and events throughout the day including a Pride Parade in the day starting at the Clifton Triangle, and WKD Arena and funfair at night.

The Mardi Gras organisers claim the parade "will surely be a truly eye-opening spectacle."

They also ask the people of Bristol to "please stand by, watch as the menagerie passes by, and show your true support for the community around you."

The event provides free entertainment to any wishing to become involved.

For those put off by the crowds of the Mardi Gras though, the FRINGE has sought to provide a more original form of entertainment.

James Whale, organiser for the Fringe festival, said planning had already begun for next years events as the response "has been overwhelmingly positive."

He also added that though running in parallel the two events were not in tandem, with the final concert for the week long FRINGE occurring on Friday 18 August at the Canon's Marsh Amphitheatre, with the after party taking place the following day at Club Capri.

Local MP Stephen Williams has supported the fringe festival saying; "Bristol has a string of great festivals throughout the summer that bring the city together. FRINGE Festival will be a community event that all can enjoy and that we will see it become part of the festival calendar for years to come."

The FRINGE will be support by the presence of the 20th London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival which will be showing films at two of the venues.

The FRINGE organisers have stressed that the week long festival is due to individuals who "came together perceiving a lack of creativity and individual ideas in an increasingly-commercial 'scene' - one potentially exclusive to many LGBT people."

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