Folsom East Draws Record Crowd

Yesterday's Folsom Street East fair was a smash success, with a massive crowd of leatherfolk and looky-loos crowding W.28th Street from 10th to 11th Avenues. FSE head John Weis was ecstatic, telling me that attendance was an all-time high, somewhere around 10,000, putting the event on a scale with SF's similar Dore Alley Fair. Porn stars, media types, LGBT leaders and pretty much half of my blogroll (above photo) was in attendance. This year the weather was almost mild, compared to last year's blistering day.

At 7PM I was hustled backstage with the other judges (club promoter Mark Nelson and ONYX (NSFW) Vice President Master James West) for the "Nasty Pig Porn Star Pie Eating Contest", which turned out to be slightly different than I had expected. Oh, there were porn stars and there was pie. Lemon meringue, in fact. However, FSE's take on this classic America fair event was twisted. Three two-man porn teams took the stage in jockstraps, with one man on each team bending over to present his ass to the crowd as his teammate smashed a pie into his butt. And then ate it. Good clean fun. We unanimously selected the Treasure Island team as winners, which probably won't surprise anybody who has seen one of their movies. There are pictures, but nothing I can use here. Not if'n y'all wanna keep your jobs, that is. The photo to the left is my witty friend Alan, who is not a porn star, but should be.

The beneficiaries of this year's fair: the NYC Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, the NYC LGBT Community Center, and the National Coalition For Sexual Freedom. Congrats to FSE and their army of volunteers for a well-run and successful event. It was a great Daddy's Day.

UPDATE: Gawker has a brief video of the fair, including a quick shot of a pony boy. Hi, Lynette!

BELOW: Crowd shot, via Patrick's Words (NSFW): BELOW: Father Tony (NSFW) provides an aerial view: