by Jessica Carreras
Though rumors have circulated that the ever-popular OutFest, held each year in Ann Arbor's Kerrytown district, was no more, that scuttlebutt has been squelched.
The 15th annual OutFest celebration will be held in the evening of Sept. 19 in Braun Court, across from the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market. It will feature entertainment, resource tables, raffles and several speakers.
The annual celebration honors National Coming Out Day, although it is held several weeks before the mid-October event. This year, Coming Out Day is Oct. 11. The purpose of moving up the date of OutFest, said autBar co-owner and planner for the event Keith Orr, was motivated by nothing other than the weather.
"Our longstanding joke is that whoever came up with that date (for National Coming Out Day) lived in southern California," Orr said with a laugh. "So we like to have it close so it's a fall event, but obviously the further back we can move it and get away from it, the better off we are."
Though traditionally OutFest has been a project of the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project, which calls Braun Court its home, the organizers of the festival have changed over time due to available manpower and resources.
WRAP began OutFest in 1995, but enlisted the help of Orr and his partner, autBar co-owner Martin Contreras, in the late '90s after they found that they were losing money on the event. "They came to Martin and I and said, 'Help us throw a party that's free, open to the public and doesn't lose money,'" Orr explained. "We did it for about five years and actually not only made it free but, by using different fundraising models, made it a fundraiser for (WRAP).
"In our fifth year, I think we raised about $2,200 after expenses," he added. "And it was still a free event."
Orr and Contreras handed OutFest back over to WRAP several years ago, but the weather was not kind to the festival, with year after year old cold, clouds and intermittent rain. "An outdoor event can survive one year with bad weather, sometimes two," Orr said. "But boy, you start stringing it along year after year and people start losing the fact that it was a really fun, cool event."
But Orr didn't forget.
When WRAP organizers told him that they didn't have the resources to put OutFest on in 2009, word spread that the event was off. Orr, however, refused to let it die.
Just within the past month, OutFest went from zero to fully on, with a full line-up of entertainment and information.
"It's similar to Treetown Pride," he said, referencing the summer pride event held in the same location. "At first we decided it would just be like a bar party, but then before we knew it, we were doing a sort of mini-festival. So that was sort of our model for this.
"And even though it's sort of last minute, we still have a Miller-Coors sponsorship, so we're still going to raise some money."
Live music will be held on the Trillium Stage beginning at 7 p.m., with performances by the OutLoud Chorus, Tracy Mack, Just Jill and Jane of Arc. Throughout the evening, there will also be several speakers, including Rev. Gail Geisenheimer, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor, and Rep. Rebekah Warren, who has been a passionate advocate for LGBT rights in the state House of Representatives. Gabe Javier of the University of Michigan's Spectrum Center will also speak.
DJ Jen will finish out the night with dance music outside of autBar in the court. Resource tables, including information on the March on Washington and the anti-discrimination ordinance battle in Kalamazoo, will also be available.
Orr explained that though the event is Ann Arbor-based, they wanted to focus on Kalamazoo's ongoing fight against LGBT discrimination in the areas of housing, employment and public service. "One Kalamazoo is the big fight right now," he said of the city's local campaign. "It's the one in the front of people's minds. Obviously, there are other fights going on right now … so it's not the only fight, but it is a big, public one and so it's really important that we're out there and win that one."
Orr also invited the Michigan Democratic Party LGBT Caucus to come spread the word about their work, and encourage people to sign up to travel with them to the March on Washington. "Anyone who can come out to the march should go and do it," Orr insisted.
And luckily for the OutFest, the march is held on the actual National Coming Out Day, so people can attend both. Now, it's just up to the weather to cooperate.
OutFest
7 p.m. Sept. 19
Braun Court, Ann Arbor
http://www.autbar.com
