Sydney WorldPride 2023 is taking place from 17 February through until 5 March, and will also incorporate the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday 25 February.
WorldPride promises to be the largest event the Harbour City has seen since the 2000 Olympics, and not surprisingly many operators and producers are putting on specific events and products, and the team at The Shout will keep you up-to-date with what’s happening.
We have all the information in our Sydney WorldPride 2023 Hub.
Squealing Pig is the official wine partner for WorldPride and has launched its ‘Summer of Love’ campaign, with nine new labels on its Rosé to celebrate the colourful spectrums of love, sexual orientation and gender identity.
Squealing Pig is switching out the labels on every 750ml bottle of Rosé across the country with nine limited-edition Pride Labels. Every case of 750ml Squealing Pig Rosé ordered across Australia will come with a random selection of the labels inside. Featuring cheeky rhymes that celebrate every letter of the LGBTQIA+ acronym and allies, Rosé lovers can toast to a summer of love, pride and diversity with their mates. You can find out more here.
Venue operators such as Solotel, Applejack Hospitality and Merivale have all laid out their plans for the WorldPride Festival, and retailers are also getting in on the act.
House of Pocket’s Stitch Bar is Celebrating WorldPride as part of a wider YCK Laneways-led activation. CEO Karl Schlothauer told The Shout: “We’ve created an amazing new cocktailed inspired by a Queer Icon, Miriam Margolyes which will be available throughout the duration of Pride.
“As part of Precinct-wide activations, we are encouraging punters to use the YCK Laneways map. Get out and explore all the bars, try the WorldPride cocktails and the best part is you can win free cocktails using the Laneway Loyalty function. Through YCK’s partnership with Bacardi-Martini, a portion of each cocktail sold will be donated to a LGBTQIA+ charity.”
Odd Culture’s the Duke has merged WorldPride and Valentine’s Day, and is hosting a series of events, including Queer as Fvck, Out and About Choir, and High Voltage Cock n Roll.
Muchos Group is another smaller hospitality organisation getting involved, with its bars (Tio’s, Bar Planet, Cantina OK!) all offering limited edition drinks. The Cliff Dive will host a Pride launch part and Mardi Gras weekend-long party.
In the suburb of Darlinghurst, 14 venues are coming together for four weeks from the start of WorldPride, for Secrets on Stanley. The block party activation, supported by the City of Sydney and Pride Amplified, will see 95 parties, performances and events over its duration. Highlights include drag bingo with Luna Sparks, a rainbow pizza special at Harry’s, life drawing at Funkatello and much more.
We have all the information in our Sydney WorldPride 2023 Hub.
Schlothauer is also President of the Independent Bars Association, and he told The Shout there is information available to bars to help prepare for the huge event.
“Independent Bars Association is proud to be inclusive and we’re thrilled to showcase this to guests who will be in Sydney for WorldPride,” he said.
“Our unique style of hospitality is simple: be kind, understanding and accepting – and have a bloody good time.
“We all have a role to play in making Sydney sparkle for WorldPride. If venues are looking for tips to level-up their knowledge to embrace our diverse Pride guests, visit https://www.pridetraining.org.au/.”
We have all the information in our Sydney WorldPride 2023 Hub
Endeavour Group has unveiled a range of activity in support of Pride, both in Sydney and around the country. In 2023 so far, Dan Murphy’s has been a major sponsor of Midsumma Melbourne and Albany Pride, one of WA’s biggest regional pride festivals; and has partnered with local LGBTQIA+ artist Sarah Jennifer Art to create a pride mural on the wall of the iconic Dan Murphy’s Prahran store.
Elsewhere in the retail network, the BWYASSS will continue via BWS stores, with a brand new campaign that celebrates the diversity of the rainbow, and 10 permanently branded BWYASSS stores across the country. Just in time for Sydney WorldPride 2023, Endeavour will also launch its next iteration of the Loud & Proud range, where profits will go to Pride Foundation Australia.
Meanwhile, Endeavour Group’s ALH arm of venues is also getting into the Sydney WorldPride spirit, with multiple dress ups and Pride-themed events across the network. To name a few, this includes the Balaclava Hotel’s launch of the Loud & Proud range, and the Crows Nest Hotel’s Grey Goose Pride-themed party and activation, with Pride cocktail specials, photo opportunity activations and more.
We have all the information in our Sydney WorldPride 2023 Hub
Another major retailer getting into the spirit this year is Coles, which has partnered with WorldPride in a variety of ways. Vintage Cellars in Darlinghurst will have a beautiful window display supporting the event, while 17 Liquorland Sydney stores located around the WorldPride event will have specific Pride areas (selling the likes of Squealing Pig and Absolut Pride branded items). Coles is increasing the number of team members working in these stores, anticipating the huge influx of visitors to the city centre.
Speaking about other aspects of the partnership, Mia Lloyd, Coles Liquor General Manager Customer and Loyalty, said: “We are so excited to be partnering with Sydney WorldPride 2023 and Sydney Mardi Gras. It’s the start of a brilliant three-year partnership that our customers and team members are already enjoying, with this year’s theme ‘Everyone is welcome at our table’.
“We pride ourselves on championing LGBTQI+ inclusion in the workplace and beyond and we’re so happy a number of our Liquorland team members will be marching in the Coles Group float.”
Independent retailers across Sydney are also looking forward to supporting WorldPride, including Red Bottle Group and Corkscrew Cellars.
Red Bottle, for example, will have a brand new store opening in the CBD, which will feature a Little Creatures WorldPride themed welcome sign as the first thing customers see. Across the rest of the group, stores have partnered with the official liquor brands of the occasion (such as Lion, Archie Rose and Absolut) to create pride-themed activations and displays, while flyers and a website landing page heroes these types of products too.
Andrew Mckay, Associate Director at Red Bottle, said every store will be aware of the full calendar of events to prepare for them, and said: “We would normally prepare with additional staff in our Surry Hills store on the evening of the actual Mardi Gras parade, and perhaps bunting in a couple of stores, but this year promises to be much larger and more spread out across the city with many different events.
“We are expecting a large influx of additional overseas and domestic visitors to the city over the three weeks of WorldPride so have looked at additional staff on the key dates… to ensure we can cope with the increased customer numbers.”
Corkscrew Cellars is anticipating its Oxford Street store will be the most impacted by this influx and is preparing accordingly. Similar to Red Bottle, Managing Director of Corkscrew Cellars, Con Stamoulis, said extra staff will be rostered onto key dates, with the store covered in pride-themed activations.
“We’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years now, so for us it’s about having more hands on deck to make sure things flow. This is definitely a [key occasion] for us, but it’s been a few years since the parade has gone through – we’re excited to see it return,” Stamoulis said.
We have all the information in our Sydney WorldPride 2023 Hub
If you would like your event or product listed, please contact the team, editorial@theshout.com.au.