St. Pete Pride drawing gay tourists to Tampa Bay area
From Tampa Nay Times
ST. PETERSBURG - With 100,000 people at last year's St. Pete Pride event, the Tampa Bay area is gaining a high profile among travelers expected to come this weekend for the state's biggest gay pride festival.
Organizers have added art shows and concerts leading up to Saturday's parade and street festival in St Petersburg's Grand Central District; adds aiming to lure tourists for the event suggest a vacation with beaches, museums and gay-friendly hotels, restaurants and bars.
Several elected officials, most notably Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, plan to participate in this year's festival, and community leaders are hopeful that gay pride events will take hold on both sides of the bay in coming years....
