.png)
On Oct. 26, Pride of Dripping Springs and Outlaw Pride hosted a Boos & Brews celebration at BeerBurg Brewery & Events. The family-friendly event included free music and entertainment. It was also the official launch of “Friends with Pride,” a new campaign that aims to raise support for Pride of Dripping Springs.
Balderrama said that last year, the organization decided to transition to doing year-round programming instead of focusing all their energy on one big party during Pride Month. That’s where Friends with Pride comes in.
“We really need to have money coming in monthly and annually that we can count on, so we can budget for this year-long programming that we want to do,” Balderrama said. “We want volunteers to come and join committees and we want people to become Friends with Pride.”
The group has already started hosting more events.
“We’ve done happy hours, we’ve done hikes, we’ve done parents group meetings, we’ve had some gifting circles,” Balderramas said. “We saw the Texas Junior Roller Derby, which was a huge favorite.”
In November, they will be hosting a screening of the “Mama Bears” documentary in partnership with New Life Church of Dripping Springs. And in December, they’ll once again be participating in the City of Dripping Springs “Winter Wonderland” event.
“Last year we won the Griswald Award, which is the award for the most over the top, and we have every intention of taking that award again,” Balderramas said.
Balderramas said that in the past, they’ve had a lot of allies who’ve enjoyed coming to the parties, getting to dance and watch the performers. They often ask what they can do to help support the group. Friends with Pride offers a way to do that.
“I think community right now is especially important - to be able to come together and know that we’re safe with each other, to be seen and to be heard, and to be loved,” Balderramas said. “This is something you can do, you can give to organizations like this so that we can continue to create these safe spaces, especially in Texas, for LGBTQIA to be in community.”
Ross Nearburg, whose family owns Beerburg Brewery & Events, said he wants the brewery to be just such a place.
“We are a venue for community. That includes all of our community,” Nearburg said. “We’re here to support, uplift, to be a voice for who needs it.”
For the Boos & Brews event, the brewery also created a special beer called the “Prickly Queer.”
“My brother, my sister and I went to our family’s property and foraged prickly pears,” Nearburg said. “We handpicked - well, we gripper-picked, because that’s thorny - about 20 pounds of prickly pear and we blended them up and put them in for this hyper-pink, super cool, Texan beer.”
Then they added an edible glitter to give it an extra sparkle.
“It’s a super fun beer. Between the color and the flavor, we wanted to do something for this event that really showcased Texas, but also pride,” Nearburg said. ”So that’s what this beer does.”
For more information on Pride of Dripping Springs and their Friends with Pride campaign, visit www.prideofdrippingsprings.org.
