After changing the event name back in 2003 to the New Dulwich Hill Mardi Gras, we have finally gone back to our roots and returned to the original name – the Dulwich Hill Mostly Gay & Slightly Lesbian Mardi Gras. It was felt that this name was less confusing and more inclusive. Just in case you didn’t feel included, and after much community consultation and many focus groups, we came up with an event name for the party that we [...]
For the poster this year, we let the punters help with the design. Well, with the wording, at least. Greig wrote up a web site that allowed people to contribute their own four letter words to fill the squares at the top of the poster. As well as the expected rude words, there were a lot of very creative entries. Hundreds of them, actually. Anyway, the party continues to build in popularity. Once again it turned out to be a [...]
The buzz certainly seems to be building about the all new New Dulwich Hill Mardi Gras. Mind you, we did the promotion properly this year – building up the hype six weeks out. There was no way anyone would have any excuse for not attending. And attend, they did. Greig’s constantly moving, constantly chasing paper lanterns were a hit (except for those who’d maybe had a little too much to drink). The last guest left at about 4pm Sunday. To [...]
Lately January has turned into a very busy month which party explains why we’ve missed holding a party for a couple of years. The weekend that we usually hold our party has become a popular weekend for all sorts of other events so it was a case of either beat ‘em or join ‘em. We decided to join them, so we moved our party. So now we hold ours in July. As well as being a quieter month with regard [...]
After over a week of continuous rain, the weather cleared up just in time for our party. It was the first real summers day that we’d had for ages! Another fun night was had by all with no casualties. We really need to lift our game in that regard – it’s been years since anyone has gotten themselves really trashed at one of our parties. Something to work towards for next year perhaps. The warm weather saw quite a few [...]
The stupid thing with our 2005 party was that I couldn’t actually be there! A couple of weeks prior to the party we were asked to do a gig for NOVA 96.9 at GAS Nightclub. It was a case of if we weren’t available then the broadcast probably wouldn’t have gone ahead. On top of that, we could use the money so we could afford to throw a party. So Greig and I split our resources – he got the [...]
Now, we knew that numbers would be down for this party as we were competing with the Ruby Party. In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that we were holding a party we would have been at Ruby ourselves! In any case, about 80 people turned up, many of them seeing the Shed for the first time. We don’t know how many went to the old address and woke up the tenants there. The Shed is great for a [...]
With the demise of the other Mardi Gras organisation (that’s odd – you don’t see many sentences with the words “Mardi Gras” and “organisation” in them) our own event was thrown into turmoil. We would normally wait until the poster is released for the other one before we release our own. We understand the effect that our party has on ticket sales. We couldn’t wait so we did the best we could. Attendance was down on the night which we [...]
After the year got off to a busy and stressful start, the show still had to go on. We got the printed invitations out only days before the party date, but well over 100 people still managed to find their way through our house. Then, at the 11th hour, a bracket that supported our “surprise effect” for the evening broke, forcing us to drop the whole idea. It was still fun watching people as they moved about, trying to work [...]
It was close this year. The rain was threatening to dampen our spirits, but behold the skies cleared on the day of the party for yet another lovely evening. About 120 of Sydney’s most elite and beautiful people met together and partied the night away in luxury. At the same time another 120 normal people came to the party at our place and partied hard till just after 5am. There is a rumour that there was lurid behaviour at one [...]