Category Archives: Giving Back
Out In The Park 2023
Out In The Park at Six Flags Great America
Returns in 2023 for Year 12!
Have you ever been to a PRIVATE event at Six Flags?
Free Parking, much shorter lines and fun people.
It’s like a Fall Pride Celebration. And not only LGBTQ+ Pride – it’s a celebration of diversity and acceptance. Haters and harassments will not be tolerated. STAY HOME!
Saturday, September 10th, 2022 from 8 PM to 12AM
(Doors sometimes open earlier!)
Out In The Park is an annual private diversity event featuring unlimited riding of ALL Six Flags Great America’s amazing THRILL rides (with much shorter than usual lines! The park is only about 30% full!) with a portion of all ticket sales each year helping to benefit various non-profits. This year we will donate to AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
It’s important to us that everyone—no matter who you are, how you identify, or where you’re from—feel comfortable and safe to express themselves freely. Our message is simple: You are welcome here. People of any color, size, body type, gender, gender expression(s), and sexual orientation are welcome. Bigotry will not be tolerated and will be grounds for ejection from the park.
There will be 3 DJ’s spread around throughout the park. DJ Sean Parks and Dj AJ Dubbz, both from Chicago.
Plus DJ RNB from Milwaukee!
Official time for the event is 8pm – 12 Midnight. “We encourage people to get there at 7:30 PM; usually Six Flags opens the gates a little early and people tend to mingle in the parking lot with friends before the gates open.” says owner Derrick Sorles.
Ticket price drop this year!
Advance $45 tickets can be purchased here; http://CelebrateDiversityChicago.com
Attendees get FREE parking for this special event! September 3rd the price goes up to $50. $55 at the gate, IF AVAILABLE.
This event is capped at only 5,000 tickets, to ensure lines stay short for the rides. Season Passes cannot be honored for special events. All ages event. Drinks are available for purchase to those 21+
Round trip Bus rides are available from Lakeview for about $40
OFFICIAL AFTER PARTY AT CHARLIE’S BAR in Lakeview!
TPAN Ride For AIDS in 2016 beneficiary!
We are excited to announce that the 2016 beneficiary will be TPAN’s RIDE FOR AIDS / TEAM TPAN!
Held over 2 days, the Ride brings together those living with HIV, LGBTQ advocates, amateur cyclists, and endurance athletes to raise funds for HIV services and celebrate human potential. This is the Midwest’s only back-to-back century ride.
The Ride is committed to providing essential services to people living with and vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. Your support and commitment to the Ride is pivotal to TPAN’s success. READ MORE HERE.
Northalsted is named 2015 Beneficiary
Chicago’s PROUDEST Neighborhood
Our Annual LGBT event OUT IN THE PARK @ Six Flags Great America will celebrate its 4th year in 2015! Each year we have chosen a different non-profit organization to be the beneficiary of our efforts and thus far we have gifted $33,000 to recipients. This year Northalsted Business Alliance will benefit from both OUT IN THE HARBOR and OUT IN THE PARK! The more tickets we sell, the more Northalsted gets to put back into the neighborhood!
Northalsted (also known as “Boystown”) was voted the 2013 “the best gay neighborhood in the world” by Out Traveler Magazine. And it’s easy to see why: our collection of fabulous shops, fantastic restaurants, famous nightlife, and our proud LGBTQ legacy gives us a sense of community spirit unlike any other place.
It Takes a Village
When BestGayChicago.com was hired for their very first event. We knew, we could not do it alone, and we knew we wanted to give back to community.
In 3 years we have given back $35,000 to the community. But we did not do it alone. Our community partners play a HUGE role in our events. Media Sponsors donate free advertising space, and other sponsors put up dollars to help defray costs, so more money can go directly to the charities.
BestGayChicago.com is merely the organizer and promoter. We bring people together, for the greater good.
So please, support our community partners. All of our community partners are listed to the right, in the sidebar.
Without them, we can not do these awesome events!
OUT IN THE PARK 2013 Raises Almost $11,000 for Chicago House
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! To so many people who were involved
in making Out in the Park at Six flags Great America 2013 a huge
success. BestGayChicago.com alone, could not make this event happen without the help and support from our peers. Our media sponsors Stacy Bridges and Mark Nagle from GRAB Magazine, Mark Mariucci from QUEST Magazine in Wisconsin, Bill Pritchard and the staff of ChicagoPride.com and the staff of Zona Rosa Magazine all donated thousands of dollars in advertising, well exceeding our expectations and everyone really pitched in and went above and beyond! And a huge thanks to Mini Cooper of Chicago, our co-producer.
We always say, It takes a village to pull this off. This is not the Michael and Derrick BestGayChicago.com show. It’s a community effort coming together for the greater good. And an All Inclusive event. Almost 5,000 people came out this year to support the event and were so grateful.
Six Flags Great America is willing to give our community an entire
private Sunday 11am to 6pm but we have to deliver 10,000 attendees-we
will get to that point-we’re determined to make it happen, that is the
end all goal and feel our community is ready to support an all day private event.
We all need to find our own ways to serve; our own ways to give back.
Our business on its own cannot write a big check to charity. However,
we have a sizable network within our business, the relationship
resources, strong partners and advocates, and ideas to collaborate and
bring the community together – and all help write this year’s check, for
almost $11,000!! This check is not from BestGayChicago.com – it’s from
the ENTIRE community. We were just the instruments to help make it all happen.
Thanks to Jess Godwin and Isaiah Grass for their super live vocal performances. Teri Yaki, Debbie Fox and Cyon Flare all helped entertain the crowds. DJ
Matthew Harvat always delivers a great evening of music and this year
Scarlet’s Scotty T and Team Scarlet got the evening off and running with
a bang. Walgreens helped spread the word this year through many of
their stores. Scarlet, Taverna 750, Charlies and Lucky Horseshoe also helped with promotions and support.
Thank you to all of the volunteers and brand ambassadors who helped
us spread the word. And most of all – thank you to YOU WHO BOUGHT THE
TICKETS and came out and had a great time!
It is a huge risk to orchestrate an outdoor event a year in advance in the
Midwest. Thankfully, we had a gorgeous Fall day. Kohls had bought
out the park for the next day for employees and their families, the
temperature dropped dramatically and it rained and rained hard most of
the day. How lucky we were that was not our day this year, we would have
been very negatively affected.
Six Flags Great America also did an amazing job of emptying the park in a
record 45 minutes. They closed to the general public at 7pm and were
able to allow us to begin entering at 7:45pm into an EMPTY park.
We will be doing a similar Gay Days party at Six Flags St. Louis on a
Saturday night, June 7, 2014 and we’ll be back to Gurnee next September
on a Saturday night for Out In The Park 2014 as well. And we have one
more AMAZING party event in the planning stages for 2014, a private,
charity-based, Water Park, 12-hour Saturday Night Dance Party in late
Winter/early Spring unlike anything the Midwest has ever been able to
enjoy before….stay tuned for all the details.
Friend us, Follow us, LIKE us – to get all of the updates as they happen.
Michael Snell
BestGayChicago.com
