‘A welcoming and safe place’: City officials, organizers tout success of annual Pride event while police prepare for crowds

If all goes well later this week, nobody will notice the small army it takes to make Palm Springs Pride a success. Organizers wouldn’t have it any other way.

Monday morning, two days before a giant rainbow flag is unfurled from atop the Stergios Tower at Desert Regional Medical Center — signaling the official start of this year’s five-day event — city officials, civic and business leaders, and board members of Greater Palm Springs Pride gathered to speak about how they’re preparing for this year’s event and what it means to the city.

“Pride to us means something that is more than just an event,” said Dean Lavine, owner of Blackbook, a popular bar just steps away from where the gathering took place in the Arenas District. “… We’re grateful and thankful that we have the love and support of the entire community.”

Support is just what the city’s LGBTQ+ community will receive this week — and it will come from throughout the valley. Not only do the city’s taxpayer dollars go toward making Palm Springs Pride a success, volunteers from throughout the Coachella Valley will be here to fill 700 different shifts, as will law enforcement officers from multiple jurisdictions.

“We’re prepared for all the security risks,” Police Chief Andy Mills said, “including both technological and human.”

Added Capt. Mike Kovaleff: “You will see an increased presence in law enforcement this week. “They will be monitoring technology, at events, on rooftops, in the air, and in the crowds — both in uniform and out of uniform.”

Creating a “safe, happy, fun, safe place for all to be” is the priority, Mills added — a goal that hasn’t changed during the event’s 37-year history.

“It’s important to have a welcoming feel,” said Mayor Grace Garner. “Palm Springs is a welcoming community, and a welcoming and safe place for people all over the world to come.”

It may have not always felt that way. Greater Palm Springs Pride President Ron deHarte recalled the event’s humble beginnings, where 15,000 people attended weekend events “hidden in Sunrise Park.” Now, more than 150,000 are expected to attend what has become the largest free Pride festival south of San Francisco.

“It’s huge and visible now,” said deHarte, who. along with a five-person board of director works with a core team of 25 year-round volunteers to stage five days of events. “It engages the entire downtown business community.”

Just how valuable the event is to that business community remains a bit of a mystery. While some estimates put the economic benefit of Pride at more than $25 million, a full study has never been conducted. That’s something Aftab Dada, general manager of the Hilton Palm Springs and chairman of PS Resorts, said he would push to change.

“This is the capital of the world’s largest lesbian and gay events,” Dada said of Palm Springs. “It’s time for us to band together and research the overall impact of these events.”

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