Partying into Pride festival

DAVID HALLETT

MASK TIME: Bev Guy-Hales gets into party mode at The Pride Festival masquerade opening party at the CBD bar.

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Christchurch's rainbow communities partied into the early hours of the morning at the opening ceremony for this year's Pride festival.

A masquerade cocktail party at Madras Street's CBD bar on Saturday night kickstarted the three-week Christchurch Pride Festival and attracted about 80 members of the city's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

One of the organisers, who wanted to be referred to by his drag queen persona, Magda Doodle, said the event was a "really good start" to the festival.

Doodle said the party "started to kick off" just before midnight and he carried on celebrating until about 5am at gay nightclub Cruz bar. "Everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was a great night and there was no drama," he said.

The festival's main organiser Anne Nicholson agreed the party was a success and said "everyone was happy and laughing".

Drag queen Aunt Pipi will be hosting Bingo tomorrow night at Hagley Community College for the festival's next event, Nicholson said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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