Delaware Pride will hold the state’s 10th annual Pride Festival on Saturday, September 16, 2006, from noon until 6 p.m., at Gordons Pond area of the Cape Henlopen State Park (North Shores) in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. This year’s festival will feature headliner Amber, a long-time dance and pop music favorite. Amber has enjoyed big club and pop hits like "Above the Clouds," "Sexual," and "If You Could Read My Mind." Amber recently released a new album, "My Kind of World." The album’s debut single, "Just Like That," is climbing the dance music charts. Amber has toured worldwide over the years and sold millions of records, and she’s sure to thrill the festival audience as the headliner for our "Big 10" celebration.

This year’s festival will be emceed by Casey of the radio station Wired 96.5 and the popular "Chio in the Morning" show. Local favorites Carol Regan and Red Letter Day will bring their musical gifts to the festival stage, sure to please longstanding fans and newcomers to their performances. Red-hot country line dance group The D.C. Cowboys will return to the festival. Their sexy dance moves and skin-tight jeans heated up the audience at the 2004 festival. International recording artist Karen Jacobson, who wowed last year’s crowd, returns to the festival again this year. Karen has shared the stage with Norah Jones, Deborah Cox, and Uncle Kracker, and her angelic, Australian voice is sure to be a crowd-pleaser once again.

Other attractions at this year’s festival include a special reunion of female impersonators Karyn Thomas, Kristin Nicole, Anita Mann, Maxine Chambers, and Jade Sinclair. Jade’s alter ego, Michael Klataske, was one of the original founding members of Delaware Pride. The recently crowned Mr. and Miss Delaware Gay Pride will also entertain. Dozens of vendors will also be on-hand, offering various food, drink, chair massage, temporary tattoos, clothing, jewelry, books, and other items. Many regional GLBT groups will also have tables at the festival, including political groups, churches, community organizations, and extracurricular activities. Statewide elected officials have also been invited to speak at the festival, and there will be give-aways and raffles throughout the day. As you can see, the 10th Annual Delaware Pride Festival will be packed with non-stop entertainment and fun.

The Delaware Pride festival, as always, is free, family-friendly, and open to all members of the regional GLBT community and their allies. Last year, the festival drew over 3,000 visitors from the beach area, northern Delaware, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and other parts of the United States. Why not join in the festivities? Enjoy the entertainment and the vendors. Visit with old friends, make some new friends, and find you how you can become more involved in the Delaware GLBT community. Parking will be available on site for a nominal fee, and shuttle parking is also available. There will be an ATM on the park grounds, for the convenience of attendees. This year’s festival is sponsored by Equality Sponsors ING and MetLife, as well as EXP Magazine, ID Lube, Amtrak, and The Atlantis Inn.

The annual festival is organized by Delaware Pride. According to its mission statement, the organization "is dedicated to creating a more visible and united GLBT community through outreach, education, and referrals." The Pride Festival is the organization’s best-known event, marking Delaware’s largest annual gathering of GLBT persons and their allies. Throughout the year, Delaware Pride keeps busy not only with festival planning, but with Bingo-a-Go-Go and other social, fundraising, and networking events and activities. Currently, Delaware Pride is looking to increase its membership, and its newly updated website has attracted thousands of visitors and garnered rave reviews. Visit www.delawarepride.org to find out more about the organization, to advertise your local business, or to announce and display pictures of commitment ceremonies and other special events.

Delaware Pride began one decade ago, spawned from a conversation among four friends about the need for a more visible and cohesive GLBT Delaware community. The initially half-serious, overwhelming concept of an annual Delaware Pride festival quickly blossomed into reality through the community’s generous support and the tireless involvement of numerous volunteers. The organization was officially formed on April 29, 1997. For several years, the annual festival was held in Wilmington’s Rodney Square. Then, several years ago, it relocated to Gordons Pond State Park in Rehoboth, in order to have a larger venue that was more easily accessible to all Delaware citizens and regional travelers. Since the first festival, which drew only a few hundred attendees and featured about a dozen vendors, it has grown exponentially and has received thousands of visitors, showcasing top-notch entertainers, vendors, and local GLBT organizations.