LAGUNA BEACH : Group to Seek City Support for Festival

In a move intended to attract gays and lesbians from surrounding communities to visit the city, a local support group is planning the city’s first Gay and Lesbian Festival.

Co-sponsor Laguna Outreach is seeking city support for the festival, which will include a kick-off party April 29 followed by the weekend event on the Festival of Arts grounds.

Promoters say they hope the two-day celebration will become an annual event.

The group will not be asking for money at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, but rather for “moral support,” said Laguna Outreach co-chairman Doug Reilly.

The festival will benefit the city by increasing sales tax revenue. “This is one more of a multi-pronged effort to bring people to Laguna Beach,” he said.

A letter from Reilly to the city says the festival “is part of a larger (Laguna Outreach) effort to promote Laguna Beach as a resort to the gay and lesbian community in Southern California and throughout the nation.”

The City Council commonly endorses community events and Councilman Robert F. Gentry is asking his colleagues to support the festival.

Because the festival is expected to promote business for city restaurants, art galleries and hotels, Laguna Outreach will also seek support from the Chamber of Commerce.

The festival will feature a variety of entertainment, including pop and country-Western music, dancing and performances by local comedians.

The memo to the city says money generated by the celebration will be used partly to help defray festival expenses and to support a similar event next year.

The remainder would go to Laguna Shanti, an AIDS support group that is co-sponsoring the event; Orange County Cultural Pride, which sponsors the Lesbian and Gay Pride Festival in August; and Laguna Outreach.

The Laguna Beach festival is also being co-sponsored by the Coast Inn, home of the Boom Boom Room, a gay bar in town.

The annual Lesbian and Gay Pride Festival has drawn thousands of participants in recent years.