Methodists Marching – Pride Parade 2012 – Rio Texas Reconciling Team

*** Updated 8/10 to include more event details, Updated 8/13 to add participating church, Updated 8/14 to add participating church, Updated 8/30 to add sign party time, Updated sign-up info, Updated 9/21 w/check-in details***

WE ARE SHOWING OUR PRIDE !!

Austin area Methodists in the 2012 Austin Pride Parade
with Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) on Saturday, September 22 !

We will be marching behind the MFSA banner and the church banners of:

Trinity, University, Grace, First, Saint John’s, Journey of Faith (Round Rock), and Travis Park (San Antonio)

Participants will be wearing t-shirts with the ‘Love Your Neighbor’ logo.
Each church will be wearing t-shirts in a different color of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, cerulean, blue, purple!

Last year we had 44 Methodists participate….this year we are expecting 150 Methodists or more!!!

SCHEDULE:

Saturday, Sept 15:

3 to 5pm

Sign Making Party! We had a great time! See below for photos of our creations!

Saturday, Sept 22:
5pm – El Mercado for dinner – not mandatory, but fun!! We have organized a buffet with 2 dinner choices, please stick to this plan so that we can all get out in time! 🙂 Dinner buffet is $10, tax/tip/drinks extra. Please bring cash to speed checkout process.
6:45pm – Begin lining up MONITORS DO NOT NEED TO SIGN UP, our Parade chairs will take care of this, everyone find our spot in the parade staging area to the east of the Capitol – look for the ‘Love Your Neighbor’ shirts!
7:00pm-7:15pm – Take photos of church groups (please assign someone from your church to be a photographer if can, we can take pics of each other’s group, also good to have extra pics of the parade itself!)
8pm – Parade starts. We have some water bottles in our vehicles, you may want to bring your own. Bug spray recommended. Pets on leash or contained ok. We have limited seating available in our 4 vehicles for those who cannot walk (please notify your church organizer if you have not already). We are not expecting any hate groups/protestors, but please ignore if you do notice them there. Most importantly, have a great time! We are going to be one amazing rainbow of color!!
9:30pm ??- Parade ends, each church responsible for shuttling their own members back to start line. Some participants may want to park near the end or middle of route.

Parking:
Limited free parking available at First UMC lot, and also at the surface lot next to the Texas Oil and Gas Association building, next to the FUMC Family Life Center, 13th and Lavaca. Three spots are specifically being reserved for Travis Park only. Carpooling encouraged.

Austin Pride Parade site here: http://www.austinpride.org/#!events

photos from Sign-Making Party 9/15/12: