Richard Allen (aka Rachel) put the Canberra gay community in the spotlight back in 1980 with the first ever Camp-Berra float at the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.
Five decades later, he has decided to pull out of the major international parade, citing new rules and expenses which have made it too hard to participate.
Last year’s float at WorldPride, for which Camp-Berra was required to reduce its participants from 100 to 40, was the group’s last. Richard says it’s now impossible to raise the minimum $5000 required to cover the costs of getting a float from Canberra and “hire a ute, petrol up and back, generators, sound systems, lights tolls, storage, parking and registration of float,”.
“Mardi Gras has destroyed the parade with all the corporate floats,” he says. “They were not there in the start and it’s gone to the dogs, it’s not our parade anymore.”
The Canberra queer pioneer has decided to participate in the Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras Parade in 2025 instead. “It is much more simple and less stressful,” he says.
The Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras Parade will take place on 5 April 2025. Interested participants can contact Richard at [email protected]
