Preliminary Schedule

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Elena
----------

Hi Girls,

Here is the first version of the schedule. Last year's schedule worked
well so I am not changing it much. Here it is:

Thursday, October 12:
6:30 p.m. Happy half hour at Gino's East
7:00 p.m. Dinner at Gino's East
9ish: Gentry on State (maybe)

Friday, October 13:
11:30 a.m. Lunch (location T.B.A, by Ginger)
2:00 - 6:00 p.m. Open house at Janna's
6:30 p.m. Happy Half Hour at Winberies (Oak Park)
7:00 p.m. Dinner at Winberie's
9ish A drink at the Nutbush
10:30ish Partying at Hunters Dance Club

Saturday, October 14:
12:00 noon: Lunch (location TBA by Ginger)
mid-afternoon - Open house at Rachel's Wigs
6:30 p.m.: Happy half-hour
7:00 p.m.: Dinner (Ann Sathers)
9ish: Boystown Bars

Sunday, October 23:
1:00 p.m. Lunch (location TBA by Ginger)
Late Afternoon: Farewell Dinner

I am suggesting a new place (for Pinkfest) for Thursday dinner. Gino's
East is a local chain of pizza restaurants. They are known for their
deep dish pizza but they also have good thin crust pizza. They have a
location at Ontario and Wells which is convenient for us. Another
possibility for Thursday dinner is Ed Debevic's but Ginger had lunch
their last year there so I am keeping Ed's open for lunch.

We enjoyed going to Gentry's on State
(http://www.gentryofchicago.com/site/index.html) Thursday night so I am
keeping it on the schedule. Their entertainers have been consistently
good. I am open to other suggestions for other bars in the River North
area.

Janna was very nice to have an open house last year which I enjoyed.
Janna has been a great vendor to Chicago's transgender community for
those who don't know her. I am assuming Janna is keeping open house
hours 2-6 pm. Winberie's again had very good food and service. Nutbush
is a gay bar with dance floor near Winberies. It is a good place for a
drink or two. Last year we drank too much Thursday night and didn't
have energy to go to Hunter's, a very popular gay nightclub in the
northwest suburbs. Hunter's is a good time so let's pace ourselves this
year.

Rachel's Wigs (www.geocities.com/rachelswigs/) is offering to have an
open house Saturday. Rachel and Velma have been great a great vendor
and supporter to the TG community for many years. Their shop is a bit
north of Boystown. You can take public transportation to Boystown or it
is a short drive. I am not sure what hours the open house will be.

Ann Sather's is still my favorite restaurant around Boystown. The only
disadvantage is alcohol is BYOB but that is fine with Ann Sather's.

There are a lot of bars around Boystown. Gentry on Halsted has been
popular with Pinkfest previous years. I suggest we start off someplace
where we can talk some such as Sidetracks or Cocktail. If we want go
later to Gentry, that is fine. I don't get down to Boystown very often
so I open to suggestions of other good bars.

Sunday evening last year Pinkfest went to the Chop House, a very good
but expensive steak house. I won't be able to go on Sunday evening this
year either.

As always, please give me your feedback.

hugs,
Elena


----------
(This posting was entered by Elena, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

>As always, please give me your feedback.

Of course. :)

Looks very good. A few comments ...

>I am suggesting a new place (for Pinkfest) for Thursday dinner. Gino's
>East is a local chain of pizza restaurants. ... They have a
>location at Ontario and Wells which is convenient for us.

If this is the place I'm thinking of (right across from Ed's) I think it
may be under the same ownership or management as Ed's. I've been by it
many times, never eaten there, however.

>Another possibility for Thursday dinner is Ed Debevic's but Ginger had
>lunch their last year there so I am keeping Ed's open for lunch.

I would agree with your suggestion of the Gino's place for dinner on
Thursday and Ed's some day for LWG.

>We enjoyed going to Gentry's on State Thursday night so I am keeping it
>on the schedule. Their entertainers have been consistently good. I am
>open to other suggestions for other bars in the River North area.

I've always enjoyed Gentry. There's both a bar-bar and a showroom, so
if you would rather chat than watch the entertainment, you have that
option. It's also very comfortable for those who are newly out, but
not cloistered.

>Janna was very nice to have an open house last year which I enjoyed.

Yes, and I'm hoping that Janna will join us this year for some of our
other activities too. (>>HINT<<) :)

>Ann Sather's is still my favorite restaurant around Boystown. The only
>disadvantage is alcohol is BYOB but that is fine with Ann Sather's.

I agree with Ann Sathers. Good food and service.

I've enjoyed Ginger's selection of BYO libations. It's not what I will
normally drink, but very enjoyable (almost too much) for a change.

As for Boystown, we always say we're gonna look for new places, but we
always seem to gravitate to Gentry or Sidetrack. This is not a
complaint, but an observation. Last year, Sidetrack just seemed louder
and more zooey than before, so maybe Cocktail (if that's the place I'm
thinking of) might be better to start with.

Gentry (Halsted) is always fun. The guy they had there last year was
genuinely funny to a point. He did get a bit too crude as the night
went on.

Overall, very good, Elena, Thanks. :)


----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Petra Lynn Hofmann
----------

Hi,

I live in the West 'Burbs, Elmhurst to be exact, and after reading the
list messages, wondered if anyone would be interested in doing some site
seeing while in Chicago? I would be glad to put some small tours and/or
make arrangements for those would be interested. I could also lead
walking tours for those interested in a little exercise to work off the
calories from the night before.

Petra


----------
(This posting was entered by Petra Lynn Hofmann, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Elena
----------

Petra,

That is very nice of you to offer. I hope some of the out of town girls
are interested (I am from the NW suburbs of Chicago).

In past years most of the out of town girls do their own thing during
the day. Two years ago a couple of the girls did do a boat tour on the
Chicago River. Last year I suggested going to the Shedd Aquarium but no
one seemed interested. On the spur of the moment, I did give Ginger a
little tour on Lake Shore Drive, then we wondered around by Montrose
Harbor. Both were very enjoyable.

I think out of town girls are missing out by not taking advantage of a
local sightseeing guide.

Elena


----------
(This posting was entered by Elena, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

>In past years most of the out of town girls do their own thing during
>the day.

True. Add to this the fact that most stay out past midnight every day
during Pinkfest, you just don't get a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed group
the next morning. :)

I do think that Lunch With Ginger is a good start on getting more out
during the day. This has worked quite well at DLV and I think it can do
the same at Pinkfest. Everybody has to eat, and quite a few don't like
to eat alone.

>Two years ago a couple of the girls did do a boat tour on the Chicago
>River. Last year I suggested going to the Shedd Aquarium but no one
>seemed interested.

For the very first Pinkfest, a small group (3) of us went to Museum Of
Science And Industry, which went well, other than for a just-past-911
rather amusing incident during a trunk inspection in the parking garage.

We've attempted a few other touristy things but most of the time it
seems like it's been no-shows and missed connections.

Looking over the schedule, Sunday is the only afternoon that is open.
I'm somewhat hesitant to commit to anything in this timeslot, thinking
that I may be recuperating from Saturday night. :)


----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Petra Lynn Hofmann
----------

It's merely a suggestion; however, I can understand that after a night
partying, walking around Chicago may not be all that much fun.

P


----------
(This posting was entered by Petra Lynn Hofmann, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

>It's merely a suggestion; however, I can understand that after a night
>partying, walking around Chicago may not be all that much fun.

First I want to say I appreciate your enthusiasm for this, and your
offer to get involved in planning things for Pinkfest.

I would like to share with you (and with the other Pinkfest people)
some thoughts and feelings regarding daytime activities, and the
experience that I and others have had planning daytime activities
at DLV and at Pinkfest.

I (honestly) didn't intend this to be as long as it is. :)

I think some of these might be adapted to Pinkfest.

Please look this over, and if you think of anything that might
work in the afternoon, please suggest it. :)

In general, both at DLV and at Pinkfest, evening activities are more
popular and more successful than daytime activities.

To overgeneralize, quite a few of our people have been shy about going
out in the daytime. They are, in general, more comfortable being out
at night. We have, however, had many good turnouts for daytime things
at DLV.

The most consistently successful daytime activity at DLV has been golf.
This is a high-interest activity for some, and they will, literally, do
it rain or shine, come hell or high water! Not my thing, but I very much
support the efforts to plan this and keep it going. (We're actually on
record as the "Diva Las Vegas Invitational" being the world's first
regularly-scheduled TG golf tournament.)

The second most consistently successful daytime activity has to be
the Lunch With Ginger (formerly Brunch With Tina). As you know, we're
bringing this to Pinkfest as well. :) It gives everybody a good target
time to get up. :) :)

The vendor open house has always attracted a good crowd. For two years,
we had two at DLV (Hidden Woman and Glamour Boutique) but for the past
three years we've had only GB. As you know, at Pinkfest, this is our
second year for Janna's Place and we're having a second one on Saturday
this year at a wig shop. A couple other places in the past (a wig shop
and a corsetry shop) have had an "open open house", for DLV, meaning no
set hours, but an open invitation. This did not work nearly as well and
we haven't seen it for a few years.

Another successful type of activity has been the sightseeing side trip.
Area 51, Valley Of Fire, Red Rock Canyon, Rhyolite (ghost town ruins),
Death Valley are some of the trips we've taken. Even though these
typically require a 9-10am start, they're well-attended.

English High Tea has been another ongoing successful daytime activity.
This provides a daytime-dressy affair in a formal setting. A few upscale
places in the LV area serve this and it's always attracted a moderate
crowd. Again, not my thing, but I support them 100%.

The Garden Party. One of my personal favorites. This was co-sponsored
by DLV and the Southern Belle Society. One of the local ladies and her
SO held this in their house, which had a nice fenced backyard with
in-ground pool, BBQ area, sitting areas, and patio. Those who wished to
do "daytime dressy" could do it, those who wanted to do casual did it,
those who wanted to do boymode did it as well. Throw in a good mix of
kids, dogs, neighbors, enough burgers to blow anyone's diet, and enough
beer to pollute the East River. The couple moved into a retirement
community a couple years ago, and we have not found a replacement for
this. :( It is dearly missed!

I've had moderate luck doing what I call semi-self-guiding tours of the
Strip during DLV's early years. I would have the group meet at a certain
area of the Strip, break them up into groups of 2-3, give them a handout
of the high points in the area, and send them out to explore and meet
back at the starting point at a certain time.

Shop hopping. This used to work when the DLV group was smaller, and
there have been a few attempts to revive it lately. The one I remember
best is when we had four vanloads invading a wig shop, a lingerie shop
(a few went to a gun shop in the same strip mall instead) and finishing
up for a couple hours at an outlet mall.

Art Tour. We have one volunteer who has been spearheading this, and
it's been well attended now for three years. They usually hit two art
museums, one before lunch, one after.

A few others of varying success, which may or may not be relevant to
Pinkfest ...

Bowling has been tried a few times. One year it was quite successful,
others not so.

Sunbathing. I guess one year it worked, too cold the next year, too
windy this year, or something like that. Right, Diane?

Lake Mead Boat Cruise. Phenomenal turnout one year. Mediocre turnout
the next two years. We did a boat cruise at Pinkfest once.

Walk Off Your Lunch. Ginger has led this for two years now at DLV. I
have not heard reports on how it went this year. (I'm sure Ginger will
chime in here.) :)

Ballroom Dance Instruction. Another special-interest activity which
has generated at least the studio minimum for group instruction the
last few years at DLV.

Movie Outing. This has been on the DLV schedule several times. Did this
actually happen this year? :)

Religious services. Metropolitan Community Church. Small but loyal and
consistent crowd. This has been mentioned for Pinkfest, but I don't
think it ever happened.


----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Pamela
----------

Elena,

The Open House at Rachel's Wigs will be on Saturday Oct. 14 from 11am to
8 pm. Refreshments will be served there all day.

Rachel's Wigs is at 1833 W. Irving Park, less than half a block walk
from the Irving Park CTA station on the "Brown" line, 4 stops north of
the Belmont/Ann Sathers stop.

Her phone number is 773-528-6960, more info is at her website:
_Rachel's Wigs & Beauty Salon_ (http://www.geocities.com/rachelswigs/)


Hope to see all the girls there!

....Pamela

btw... when is the sign-up/registration process for Pinkfest starting?


----------
(This posting was entered by Pamela, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Elena
----------

>btw... when is the sign-up/registration process for Pinkfest starting?

I will ask for a headcount about a week before Pinkfest. It will mainly be
for making reservations for dinners.

Elena


----------
(This posting was entered by Elena, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Ginger
----------

>The Garden Party. One of my personal favorites. This was co-sponsored
>by DLV and the Southern Belle Society. One of the local ladies and her
>SO held this in their house, which had a nice fenced backyard with

We could designate one of the evening activities as an "official" SBS
event which might attract more locals. Help me pick something for this
-- maybe the night we do boystown -- meeting at Ann Sathers or whatever.

Ideas and suggestions anyone?

Ginger


----------
(This posting was entered by Ginger, an external user of MyDLV.)