Above is the ten-foot-high mountain of toys I encountered at last night's Toys Party, the 27th annual holiday event at Chelsea Piers which raises money for
SAGE (Services & Advocacy for Gay Elders). The event always sells out and the well-dressed crowd of over 2300 was already in a block-long line when I arrived. I didn't get a lot of photos as my loyal photographer Dr. Jeff was unable to attend, but below you'll find some shots of JMG readers, uberblogger Andy Towle, NYC Council candidate Corey Johnson, radio host Michelangelo Signorile, nightlife photographer Gustavo Monroy, GLAAD's Rich Ferraro, blogger Kenneth Walsh, and hilarious comedian Robynne Kaamil. Mayor Bloomberg reportedly spoke to the crowd, but I must have been somewhere else in the giant complex. I don't think I've ever been at such an enormous gay party where most of the crowd didn't have their shirts off. The toys are donated to the USMC's Toys For Tots program.
UPDATE: The final shot above (that I'm in) is from the event's digital photo booth. Hundreds of more booth photos
can be viewed here.
UPDATE II: The embedded slideshow seems to be
slowing the page load today, so I've removed it. See the
full-screen photos here.
CORRECTION: Although I'm pretty sure I heard the party's announcer say "Toys For Tots," which is a USMC program, I've been corrected as to the destination of the toys. They will go to: "The 9th Police Precinct Community Council, Ali Forney Center, Brooklyn ACE Integration Head Start, God’s Love We Deliver, Grace Baptist/Faith Mission, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church of the Bronx, St. Francis Desales Church of Rockaway NY, UWS Jericho Project/Brick Church, and Youth 4 Seniors/Harlem InterAgency Council."
Labels: Andy Towle, Chelsea, Corey Johnson, Michelangelo Signorile, NYC, Robbyne Kaamil, SAGE, Toys Party, USMC
