Orlando – The Central Florida Fair has become a tradition in Orlando for many families, but this year the event will make new efforts to welcome the LGBT community with a brand new LGBT family night March 3.
The Central Florida Fair has been working on ways to introduce the fair to more people in the community, according to Sponsorship Coordinator Frances Salas.
“My organization has never diversified their marketing that much in the past and now this is something they are venturing into,” Salas said.
According to Salas, in the past the fair had spent most of their marketing funds on Bright House Networks and didn’t reach out toa number of groups with a large presence in Central Florida.
Salas and a few others in her office brainstormed this year and decided that it would be important to include marketing to both the Hispanic and the LGBT communities.
Will Price, director of marketing and operations, was adamant about including LGBTs in marketing efforts last year but was finally able to see his ideas come to fruition for the upcoming event.
Salas said that after doing some research her team realized there are a large amount of LGBT families in Central Florida.
“Celebrating our whole community is a super positive thing,” Salas said. “We just know that the LGBT community is prominent in Orlando and there is so much loyalty, enthusiasm and energy surrounding it.”
The name for the LGBT families night at the Fair hasn’t been decided just yet.
“We didn’t want to say ‘Come Out with Pride Night’ or ‘Gay Days.’ We want this to be about family,” Salas said.
Salas said that they hope to involve LGBT-friendly vendors, such as The Center and The Zebra Coalition, and are looking into ways to raise money for LGBT charities through ticket sales and other avenues.
“We chose March 3 because all rides are $2 which always brings in a lot of families and that is what we want this day to be about,” Salas said.
The Central Florida Fair runs from Feb. 26-March 8 at the Central Florida Expo Park in Orlando.
For more information, visit CentralFloridaFair.com.
