For the second time in three years, DotOUT brought the Pride Parade win back to everyone’s favorite Boston neighborhood!  On November 29, 2014, the Boston Pride Committee announced DotOUT won the 2014 Pride Parade win for Best Adaptation of Theme: Metamorphosis-Embracing Change!!

Boston Pride’s 2014 theme, Be Yourself, Change the World, was right up Dorchester’s avenue. This was also our TENTH ANNIVERSARY and we chose to mark the occasion with the butterfly theme: METAMORPHOSIS-Embracing Change. Celebrating a decade of same-sex marriage, this year’s DotOUT theme focused on how Dorchester has accepted and embraced its LGBT neighbors.

“We can’t believe its been 10 years already since DotOUT was created and the original founders and friends first marched in the Dot Day Centennial parade on June 6, 2004,” said DotOUT President Chris McCoy. “There is a growing GLBTQ community in Dorchester that wants to be integrated and wants to contribute to the betterment of our community. This also reflects the growing number of GLBTQ families who are interested in education for their children and safe neighborhoods.”

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DotOUT Steering Committee member Chris Joseph said, “It’s been an amazing opportunity to connect with both the gay and Dorchester communities. We are especially proud of DotArt‘s involvement this year. Local kids decorated butterflies for the float, and we think they add a beautiful touch.”

It Takes a Village to Be This Glitter-Tastic

This year, the group reached out to the larger Dorchester community to help on this year’s butterfly theme. Big, smooshy thanks to…

  • DotART: The float incorporated cardboard butterflies painted (and well-glittered) by the young artists at DotArt and under the supervision of DotArt Executive Director, Liz Carney.
  • Escape Divas: The lovely ladies brought style and high-energy to the long, long parade route.
  • Doug George: Without the much need staging and storage space Doug provided, our float could not have been as big nor as gorgeous. And, we’d still be picking up butterflies from Washington Ave.
  • D&D Towing: What is a float without a flatbed truck? I’ll tell you…NOTHING! Every year, D&D breaks out the polish and brings the shiny to the float.
  • John Ryan Sound: Music makes the parade and without our bossy beats, we wouldn’t have made it off Dot Ave with the technical doo-hickeys that create that awesome dance mood, and
  • EVERYONE who woke up at the crack of dawn, dragged themselves out and stitched, painted, glued, nailed, drilled this masterpiece of glowing polyester perfection together–and still have the scars to prove it!

So, THANK YOU, one and all, and THANK YOU, Boston Pride Committee, for this great win!

 About the Winning Float

When describing this year’s theme, cycles and physical changes recur. The butterfly’s life cycle — from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly — translated into a dynamic float incorporating bright colors and natural, kinetic wing movement.

Caterpillar characters with springy, green movement led the flatbed truck driven by D&D Towing of Dorchester. The truck front was decorated with colorful antennae and sported multi-faceted googly eyes over the head lamps.

Hanging cocoons and sparkly wings dangled from the truck sides. An eleven foot tall butterfly made out of orange painted PVC and blue patterned fabric flew free from fellow butterfly friends resting atop a shady tree on the truck’s flatbed.

About Dorchester & Embracing Change

What other neighborhood has embraced more change and has changed the most where it counts—with its people? None! (Okay, so we’re a little biased towards Dorchester.) But, seriously, no other Boston neighborhood has the lovely diversity as our fair Dot!

 

We’re not the only ones who think Dorchester rocks:

American Planning Association is ga-ga over Fields Corner.

Dorchester Reporter also brought a little hometown encouragement.