OUToberfest 2006 -- Thank You!

Unity Mississippi would like to thank everyone that supported and experienced OUToberfest. The week was an incredible success with a far, larger turnout than 2005. With energetic attendees from around the state and as faraway as Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans, OUToberfest 2006 was a great opportunity to experience LGBT educational workshops, film, spirituality, and quality entertainment! Most importantly, it was an opportunity to experience the LGBT community of Mississippi in such a positive and energizing light.

We're still excited and encouraged by the amazing response from the community!

If you missed it, words cannot justify the feeling of our community (LGBTs, friends, family, and progressives) uniting to learn, share, and, yes, party. It had to be experienced.

If you have photos of OUToberfest, we encourage you to share them in our Flickr group or simply drop by to view them... We would also like you to share your experience by visiting our OUToberfest - The Experience page at OUToberfest.com.

Unity Mississippi would like to thank the following for making OUToberfest happen; without them, OUToberfest would not be possible. Support these businesses and organizations!

Entertainers, poets, and speakers

Tuesday (Workshops) - Brent Cox, Michelle Colon and Shannon Reaze
Wednesday (FIlms) - Tina Mabry and Carrie & Elisia Ross-Stone
Thursday (Workshops) - Paul Overstreet, Robin Webb and Jody Renaldo
Friday (@Julep) - Christie Ferguson
Saturday (Concert) - Garrison Starr, Eric Himan, God-des & She, Katastrophe, Anna Byars, Dr. Madelyn Hatter, The MissiHippy Dancers, and the hilarious Mindy Dawn Friedman (a.k.a. Cowboi Mindy).
Sunday (Interfaith) - Pam Walsh (Safe Harbor Family Church), Tom Head (Author, VP of Communications - Universalist Unitarian Church of Jackson), Bebe Wolfe (Jackson Zen Group), Rev. Raymond Clothier (United Church of Christ), Neola Young (Beth Israel), Dr. Robin Webb (Music), Todd Allen (song), and Fr. Geof Acker (the Old Catholic Church of the Utrecht).
Sunday (Progressive Picnic) - Alana Segar, Harshwords, Laurel Isbister, Scott Albert Johnson, Emma Wynters, Christie Ferguson (comedy and emcee), Charles King (Housing Works), Nancy Khosin-Kintigh (Feminist Majority), Shannon Reaze (NOW), Amanda Watson (Young Democrats of MS), Larissa, and Michelle Colon (Jackson Area NOW).

Sponsors

Lisa (We HEART you!), American Airlines, Downtown Partners, Hal & Mal's, Jackson Free Press, Wet, Julep, NOW, Stewart's Screen Printing, Gay America Pageants, New Vibrations, Que Sera Sera, Broad Street Bakery, Bravo, Durex, Jack and Jill's, Noel L Black Counseling and Consulting, and lwordonline.com.

Participating Organizations

NOW (Michelle Colon and Shannon Reaze), MS ACLU (Brent Cox), Equality Mississippi (Jody Renaldo), Gulf Coast Rainbow Alliance, AAIM (Paul Overstreet and Robin Webb), Grace House, Safe Harbor Family Church, USM's GSA, Young Democrats of Mississippi, and Mississippi Hearts Against AIDS.

OUToberfest 2007 is already in the works... If you have suggestions, constructive criticism, artist recommendations, event ideas, etc, please visit www.outoberfest.com/contact. We thrive on your participation and feedback!

Again, thanks to everyone that participated in the OUToberfest 2006 experience!

Unity Mississippi

Knol Aust
Deborah Watkins
Amir Farooqi
Duane Smith
Jenni Smith
Paul Rodriguez
Robin Webb
Chrissi Gray

**Advanced apologies to anyone we may have missed. We're humbly overwhelmed by the large amount of sponsors, participants, entertainers, and speakers that helped make this happen.

***It has come to Unity Mississippi's attention that certain businesses and individuals promoted events as "official OUToberfest after-parties." We would like to take this opportunity to stress that official OUToberfest events are listed on the OUToberfest website under the official schedule and included an obvious Unity Mississippi presence (table, t-shirts, stickers, etc). If the business is not listed above, no monies, considerations or in-kind donations were donated to Unity Mississippi or OUToberfest. Unity Mississippi did not authorize or condone the use of OUToberfest (the festival or the terminology) in these businesses' and individual's marketing strategies.