On a hot summer afternoon last Sunday, in the pristine suburban community of Otay Ranch in east Chula Vista, about 200 people, along with 17 businesses and nonprofits gathered to celebrate the 4th annual Gay Day in South Bay at Heritage Park. The event brought no more people than it did in 2005, the last year the event was held; however, several more businesses and nonprofits attended this time.

South Bay Alliance (SBA) organized the event. Marci Bair, SBA’s secretary and vice president said SBA’s three goals for Gay Day “are to social network, promote local GLBT business and establishments and to politically organize South Bay GLBT residents.”

The Diversionary Theatre, San Diego LGBT Pride, Stephen Whitburn, candidate for San Diego city council, the San Ysidro Health Center, Farmers Insurance Group, Mia Bella Candles, and the Gay & Lesbian Times were among the businesses that attended, and the event featured dance by Risqué Women and Risqué Men and Alondras and refreshments by Casa Sanchez.

“I think the turnout is what we expected if not a little bit more, actually, considering we had limited resources for publishing the event,” said Dae Elliot, SBA’s president. “It’s bigger than the last time was and all the vendors seem quite happy with the turnout.”

However, Bair later said that attendance had not increased, and one attendee criticized publicity for the event.

“I don’t think it was published that well among agencies and to the public,” said Marco Hernosillo of Mission Valley. “I think it has potential, but the community needs to be better advised. I have some friends that live actually five blocks from here, and they were not even aware that this was going on.”

This was the first year SBA, initiated last year, has hosted Gay Day. “We started the South Bay Alliance to connect residents to business owners and residents in the South Bay area. There are lots of gay-owned businesses in the South Bay area and we want to promote them,” said Bair.

Bair created Gay Day in 2003 and continued to organize the event until it folded last year. SBA, of which Bair is one of the founding members, revived the event shortly afterwards.

After analyzing local Census data, Elliot estimates that approximately 17,000 South Bay residents are GLBT.

“I went ahead and went into the Census data and did some analysis to see how we could meet the needs of this community as opposed to Hillcrest,” said Elliot.

“It’s small but everyone seems to know each other, so I gotta come and check it out next year with more of my friends,” Niko Willa, of Otay Ranch, said.

“I think it’s a great event, you know, I mean I used to work in the community and know how hard it is to get people to come to an event,” said Terry Summers of Hillcrest. “I remember our first Pride [in Colorado]; we had like 70 people show up and now there’s actually thousands of people that show up, so I think you have to start somewhere.”

The event appeared equivalent in size to San Diego LGBT Pride’s Freedom Zone – a small area surrounded by tented booths with about 15 to 20 visitors each. As the event had been advertised, Gay Day in South Bay was indeed a “Mini-Pride.”

Many of Gay Day attendees mentioned feeling isolated in South Bay. “It’s isolating. You have to drive to get to all the good stuff. Come on, you know? Hillcrest is not far but still, you know, there should be a place, at least one little spot where” GLBT people can hang out, said Willa.

The sentiment was common among attendees. “South Bay doesn’t have avenues for people to go and do things and meet and mingle. So I make the trip out there [to Hillcrest] because there’s nowhere around here to do stuff,” said Emer Pacleb, of Chula Vista.

Many Gay Day attendees said they moved to South Bay for its family-like atmosphere. “I’ve lived in South Bay for the last 15 years. Mostly, I wanted a neighborhood that was diverse and had good schools for my two daughters ... . This area had both,” said Elliot.

“It’s a very nice place to raise a family. I have kids, so when the park sprang up and everything else, it became a nice little neighborhood,” said Willa.

For more information on SBA and to sign up for its email updates, go to www.southbayalliance.net. You can also attend its monthly social/meeting every second Monday of the month at The Living Room Café in National City. The social begins at 6 p.m. with the meeting following at 6:30.