FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride is proud to announce the 35th Annual Long Beach Gay Pride Parade Announcers; Jewels, Ronn Ruiz, Deb Kahookele, Mia Farrow and Missy Vee.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 11, 2018) – Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride is proud to announce the 35th Annual Long Beach Gay Pride Parade Announcers; Jewels, Ronn Ruiz, Deb Kahookele, Mia Farrow and Missy Vee. The parade will be held on Sunday, May 20th, with a 9:30 am Pre-Parade Show at the Parade Grandstand located on Ocean Blvd between Cherry Avenue and Junipero Avenue. The parade step off is at 10:30 am on Ocean at Lindero Avenue.

This year’s parade announcers consist of community superstars! The Parade will begin at step off on Ocean Blvd and Lindero Avenue, at parade central, we have the three wonderful personalities to get everyone fired up for the parade. All three hosts are true advocates that support the LGBTQ+Q Long Beach community. This includes the one and only Jewels, a very talented community superstar who produces and hosts dozens of events, shows, and fundraisers throughout all of Southern California but her heart belongs to Long Beach. Since the beginning, Jewels’ mission has always been to ensure that everyone who visits Long Beach feels welcome, loved, and entertained. When she’s not hosting charity fundraisers (if you’ve never seen Jewels lead a parade of drag queens down Broadway on Easter Sunday to benefit St. Mary’s C.A.R.E. Center, you haven’t really lived) or attending local community events all over Long Beach, you can find Jewels literally every night of the week at either Hamburger Mary’s, The Eagle 562 or The World Famous Falcon. She has hosted Stand Up Comedy shows in Hollywood and Long Beach at the Laugh Factory, as well as countless television appearances. Every Saturday and Sunday morning her “Brunchette” troupe entertains sold out crowds in several cities, with an exuberant Drag Queen Brunch.

In the grand stand at parade central is the community advocate duo, Ronn Ruiz and Deb Kahookele. Ronn, a serial Entrepreneur, local business owner, Real Estate Investor & Philanthropist who owns & operates 3 businesses in Downtown Long Beach. He’s the Co-Founder & CEO of Apartment SEO™, a digital marketing agency for the multifamily real estate space, the Founder & CEO of Chulo Chonies™, an online clothing brand for men & women that specializes in lifestyle apparel, and the Founder & CEO of iZone Marketing. As a philanthropist, Ronn and his partner Ramon donate over $30,000 per year to charitable organizations that support LGBTQ+Q Youth, Homelessness, AIDS, Cancer & Diabetes research.
Debra (Deb) Kahookele is a local Relator with Re/Max Estate Properties. She is very involved in our Long Beach community as President of PARA, a local neighborhood association in downtown Long Beach, she has been on the Harvey Milk board since 2011, a board member of the Long Beach Day Nursery and founding board member for Asian Real Estate Association of America, South Bay Chapter. In addition, Debra is one of the founders and producers of the 2017 Pride Rally Event and the 2018 Long Beach SANTA Crawl.

At Ocean Blvd and Alamitos “on the curve”, is Long Beach’s’ is the dynamic duo, Mia Farrow and Missy Vee! Mia is a Long Beach local drag entertainer, philanthropist and Empress 46 of the International Imperial Court of Long Beach. She works tirelessly to raise awareness for people living with disabilities and is a Behavior therapist for Children with disabilities. She is a Long Beach resident and contributes to the community by organizing events as well as volunteering and donating to local organizations. Missy is a hot multi-talented Diva. Missy V Simply V is a Drag Entertainer based in Long Beach! Having worked throughout Southern California with such groups as The DreamGirls Revue and The Brunchettes. She was crowned Miss Gay Pride 2016 and is a part of the Imperial Court of Long Beach!

About the parade…the parade day starts off at 8:00 am with the Shoreline Front Runners Pride Run on Junipero Avenue at Ocean Blvd. The run will be along the beach path. At 9:30 am, join the action at Parade Central, on Ocean Blvd, between Junipero and Cherry. There will be a lots of prize giveaways which include FREE Long Beach Gay Pride Festival tickets, tee shirts, and much more! At 10:30 am the parade kicks off! With fabulous entries, it’s a spectacular street show that includes everything from Drag Queens and Kings to Zombies to celebrate LGBTQ+Q Pride. You don’t want to miss one of the world’s largest Gay Pride Parade’s!
This year’s street closures are along Ocean Boulevard and are as follows: 5:00 am from Redondo to Lindero Avenue. At 7:00 am, from Lindero Avenue to Cherry Avenue and at 8:30 am closures from Cherry Avenue to Alamitos Avenue and around the curve to Broadway.

No selling of food, merchandise, nonalcoholic drinks, unless you’re registered as a parade vendor. No alcoholic beverages are allowed on the parade route.

Visit www.LongBeachPride.com
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Contact:
Elsa Martinez
Publicity Committee
Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride, Inc.
publicity@longbeachpride.wpengine.com
(562) 480-0933