Milwaukee Pride an Exercise for Community Health
By: Gary Hollander - Posted on: 6/16/2009

Exercising Pride, the health and wellness area of Milwaukee's PrideFest on June 13 and 14, 2009, was a great success. Over 30 tented booths were set up by area non-profit agencies to engage festival goers in health promotion activities. During the two days of the annual festival, 1000 canvas grocery bags, 5,000 bottles of water, 500 lip balm tubes, 500 packs of gum (to aid in avoiding cigarette use), 1,000's of condoms and lube, and scores of other swag items were distributed. More than a dozen participants also received gift cards for organic groceries, mp3 players, and bicycles.

During the two days of this annual event, Pride participants completed surveys on lesbian health, tobacco, intimate partner violence, HIV, financial health, and spiritual health. They learned about agency activities while playing miniature golf, practicing Pilates, and scoring in volley ball. The Wellness stage also included line dancing, belly dancing, and many other means of getting people on their feet and moving.

While the area is now an official part of PrideFest, it remains a partnership of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, BESTD Clinic, Cream City Foundation, Diverse and Resilient, FORGE, and the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. However, these groups support an area that includes many others, such as Foster Youth Independence, SAGE Milwaukee, Lesbian Alliance, Connexus, SHEBA, rm2breathe, and 16th Street Community Health Center.

As youth and adults strolled through the health area, they were given "passports." When they visited various booths, their passports were stamped. A full passport of 10 visits could be exchanged for a canvas tote bag with the event logo. It also qualified the bearer to enter a drawing for a high quality road bike each day.

As comments come in about this year's event, organizers have recorded them. The preparations for 2010 are already under way.