1331 people attended Pagan Pride Day 2005on September 11, 2005, which featured almost 70 merchant and organization booths, 7 rituals, 11 workshops, 11 performers, 11 area authors, and memorials for 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina victims. You donated 930 Lbs. food and 700 lbs. clothing, and PPLA also donated 20 leftover cases of soda and 19 cases of leftover water, to AIDS Service Center, http://www.aidsservicecenter.org/, the second largest AIDS service provider in Los Angeles county.

The event also raised almost $200 for a Wiccan Church in New Orleans to help them feed the victims of the hurricane. This year we also started selling new PPLA T-Shirts (not the Cafe Press T-shirts) and limited edition posters, designed by Arwen, one of our volunteers. There are still some of each available.

See the pictures, re-live the event

Special thanks go to our entertainers, workshops leaders, and authors. This year ADF presented a Druidic ritual as our central ritual of the day, and also the Druid Academy held a second Druidic ritual, Ed Fitch conducted a Norse ritual, Jamie Wood presented a Teen Faery ritual, and we had two different drum circles and even the handfasting of one of our own volunteers, Imari, to her longtime companion Grae.

I know this sounds like a broken record, but Pagan Pride LA is still in the black, but we always need money, especially since circumstances prevented us from holding fundraisers in 2005. We take donations all year (we even have a PayPal link). We'd especially like to hear from a few people willing to help plan and execute the fundraisers while we focus on Pagan Pride Day!

We have a feedback form at http://www.paganpridela.org/what/feedback.html. Feel free to let us know what you think of the event or what you would like to see in the future.

This year's workshops included Connie Jones "Protecting yourself with Hoodoo and Rootwork", Debbie's "Chakra Cleaning", Bellezza Squillace "Introduction to Feminist Astrology", DragonMother "Magickal Uses of Woods", Raven & Stephanie Grimassi "A Journey Down the Well Worn Path", Melinda Rodriguez: "Shamanic Healing Rhythm", Phyllis Curott "Sex, Religion, and Politics: The Growing Danger of American Theocracy", Lon Milo DuQuette "Ordinary Oracles", Ed Fitch "Viking Shamanism", Daniel Venditti "Aromatheraphy", and LaSara Firefox "Organic Paganism: Magick Without the Cloak and Dagger".

Authors included Denise Dumars and Lori Nyx, Jamie Wood, Selene Silverwind, Raven Grimassi, LaSara Firefox, Lon Milo DuQuette, Phyllis Curott, and Ed Fitch. Performers included Rev. Stevie Davis, The Happy Death Band, Lisa Thiel, HUTCH, Kali's Lotus, Boots, Jenny Sutherland, Amanda Pole, League Of Vampiric Bards, Miri Hunter Haruach, and Diva Drums.

We're always on the lookout for new performers, authors, workshop leaders, and ritual leaders, so if you're interested in participating, or have contact information for someone you'd like to see at the event, please let us know.

Last, but not least, we are extremely grateful to our volunteers and assistant coordinators. While some positions are filled, we still have several assistant coordinator positions available and we're looking for good people to fill them.

See you in 2006!