Thu 25 Sep 2014 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Richard Taki (right) at this year's Pride Parade with his husband Shane Richard Taki has been reappointed Auckland Pride Parade Director, while the 2015 event will start slightly later and have a ‘Gods and Monsters’ theme. “I'm very, very excited,” Taki says in an email. “It’s great to be back assisting in supporting and growing our rainbow community pride.” Taki says he and the Pride board have taken feedback from this year’s parade into account as they develop the 2015 edition. Among the concerns were gaps between the floats - something a medical emergency at the start of the route had some impact on. One of the changes which has just been announced is that the Parade will start about half an hour later, at 7.30PM. Baz Bloomfield is back as Registrations Coordinator and registrations will open in the coming weeks. “Most of my volunteer event team are returning also and you'll be as happy as I am to hear that Baz Bloomfield will again be Registrations Coordinator,” Taki says. “This is a volunteer role that he took hold of and worked almost as many hours as I did I'm sure showing his commitment to our community and for that I'm very proud to again be working alongside him. Baz will be bringing his experiences along with him to help us form and shape our 2015 parade.” Taki is in Melbourne, where he lives, but will be in Auckland in the coming months. The Auckland Pride Parade took to Ponsonby as part of the new Auckland Pride Festival in 2013. Jonathan Smith was the original Pride Parade Director, with Taki taking on the role for the 2014 event.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 25th September 2014 - 8:42am