San Diego Pride weekend is only five months away, and the Pride organization is planning some big changes to address community suggestions and concerns. There will be changes to both the parade and the festival, and some experiments from last year, such as the Youth Express Entrance, will be continued.

“The biggest change in the parade this year is the focus on entertainment,” said Ron deHart, Pride’s executive director. “We’re going to have more performing arts and musical entries this year. We’re really encouraging these groups to participate. It’s a fun way to liven up the parade by having dancers and performers.”

While many of the usual parade staples don’t have an entertainment aspect, they will all be encouraged to reflect this year’s theme, “United for Equality.” Another change this year will be that vehicles won’t be allowed in the parade unless they are decorated.

“We want to get away from the ‘drab vehicle’ driving down the parade route that has no presence,” deHart said. “Every contingent has to have the theme incorporated into it, and every car or truck has to be decorated this year. It will be a change that people watching the parade will appreciate.”

To encourage parade contingents to go all out, Pride will be offering cash prizes for winners in eight new categories, including best overall entry, best out-of-town entry and best marching contingent. The cash prizes will start at $150, with a top prize of $1,000.

The festival will also undergo significant changes. For years, the festival has had a Children’s Garden to address the concerns and desires of GLBT parents. In addition to this G-rated area, this year’s Pride will add a Family Midway, a family-oriented area for parents and pre-teens, and a Freedom Zone, which will be reserved for adults 18 and over.

The Family Midway will be part of an expansion of the Pride grounds to the north and west toward Sixth and Laurel streets. The entrance to the Children’s Garden will be located within the Family Midway area. The Midway will have a large ride open to everyone and feature booths of interest to pre-teens and their parents.

“The Family Midway will give us an opportunity to create an environment that is very family-friendly, and where families can come and hang out and have a good time without having to explain everything that may be going around them as they’re walking past some of the more adult-oriented booths,” deHart explained.

The Freedom Zone will be located at the south end, near the large beer garden. It will allow vendors with adult-oriented items and materials to fully display their merchandise. “Vendors who sell adult-oriented merchandise will be stationed in the Freedom Zone,” deHart said. “We’re also going to encourage special events such as autograph signings and contests and other events to take place in the Freedom Zone. It may be an opportunity to partner up with some of our local bars and clubs to do fun events and activities inside the Freedom Zone.”

The Freedom Zone was created to serve the percentage of the adult GLBT population who want to see more adult-themed booths. “The Freedom Zone will appeal to a segment of the population that hasn’t had their own space for a while,” said Philip Princetta, Pride co-chair.

One carryover from last year will be the Youth Express Entrance, which offers 16- and 17- year-olds free entrance to the festival in exchange for participation in a brief orientation. The program was an experiment last year, partially in response to the 2005 Pride scandal, in which three Pride volunteers and one Pride employee were discovered to be registered sex offenders.

Rather than ban youth as a result of the scandal, the organization is educating them with regard to participating safely.

After the attacks at last year’s Pride, in which six men were attacked and one hospitalized with serious head and face injuries, safety is a concern for many people. Although the attacks were a dark time for the community, Princetta points out that every dark cloud has a silver lining. He said that from that darkness came the Stonewall Citizens Patrol, and we saw the mayor and police make the case their highest priority.

“There will be a much larger police presence around the festival this year,” Princetta said. “They’re not going to tolerate another one of those incidents.”

The addition of the Freedom Zone adds another area along with the beer gardens that requires ID to enter. To reduce the wait, Pride will have an identification checkpoint at the festival entrance. People 21 and over will be given a wristband allowing them to enter the beer gardens and Freedom Zone as often as they like without having to wait in line to show their identification.