Harvey Milk Festival hosting fundraiser on July 11

"Rainy day" funds are built up and saved for times of unexpected financial duress or emergencies. Either kept under the mattress or a safe place for families or held inside the budget by cities, counties and states, this Saturday the Harvey Milk Festival is raising its own emergency fund because of, literally, a rainy day.

This year's Harvey Milk Festival, the annual three-day arts festival that showcases the best local, regional and international talent dedicated to raising LGBT awareness, rights and fundraising, ran from May 14 through 16. The first two day's showcased film and visual art pieces, but the main event and the nucleus of the festival is its all-day music concert held free of charge in Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota. The day began smoothly that afternoon with participating organizations and vendors setting up around the park. The performance stage was erected and lit. Local bands and performers began playing around 2:30 p.m. and the attendance was healthy and thriving. But then around 5 p.m. the rain came and the people fled for cover. The rain persisted through the night and the headlining performers such as Bright Light Bright Light, MeteorEYES, Kodak to Graph and Yip Deceiver couldn't perform. 

Now, this Saturday, the organizers of the Harvey Milk Festival are holding a fundraiser from 7 to 10 p.m. at the THROB Nightclub to raise thier own rainy day fund and to keep the festival free and active for the foreseeable future. There will be a $5 cover charge at the door. Local groups MeteorEYES and DJ Imminent will be performing. MeteorEYES will be playing three new songs off their newest release "Fall Around."  Festival organizers are aiming at raising a minimum of $5,000 in order to pay their reservation of Five Points Park for next year's festival and the other bills the non-profit organization accrued during the course of the festival that would have been paid for by concession sales and donations the day of the washed out music festival.

"We knew we would need to hold this fundraiser the day of the festival," says Shannon Fortner, president of the Harvey Milk Festival. "This is the first time in five years that we've had rain during the festival. Our focused goal is to be able to pay off our remaining bills and to be able to pay a deposit for the city. We've already reserved Five Points Park again for next year." 

More than just a three-day organization, the Harvey Milk Festival, which is completely volunteer-based and run by a volunteer board, advocates and cultivates local LGBT-friendly artists and musicians year round. In addition to the arts, the Harvey Milk Festival is dedicated to spreading Harvey Milk (the first publicly gay elected official in American history) and his message of equality as well as supporting ALSO Out Youth, which is dedicated to ending prejudice, discrimination and violence against people based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. 

"We just want to be able to keep moving forward," says Fortner. "We're always growing and evolving, and we're currently working on applying for grants and other fundraising to continue to keep the festival free for the community. We want to continue to spread Harvey Milk's legacy and give a public platform where people can share anything that needs to be addressed and share the voices that need to be heard."