As hinted at earlier, the traditional organizers/gatekeepers of Pink Saturday on Pride Weekend in the Castro, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, are holding onto their rights to the name "Pink Saturday," even though a similar Saturday gathering will be going on without them this year. The Saturday street party, which is supposed to wind down by 8 or 8:30 p.m. in order to hopefully curtail some of the hooliganism and late-night violence of recent years, is being organized by the LGBT Center, with help from the city and an outfit called E. Cee Productions, and is supposed to still feature live music and other performances, as well as food and beverage vendors, etc.
As Sister Selma Soul told the Bay Area Reporter, following the Sisters' meeting last week, "The order has voted to retain the name 'Pink Saturday' and will pursue a new manifestation of Pink Saturday in a new venue in 2016."
This means that The Center will have to come up with their own name for the Castro streetfest for 2015 (and beyond?), even though plenty of people will probably still refer to the Saturday of Pride, and all the chaos that follows Dyke March, as "Pink Saturday."
Sister Selma says that the Sisters "have put all our blood, sweat, and tears" into the event for 20 years, and therefore she couldn't see giving up the name to someone else. It remains to be seen what this new manifestation might be next year, and where it might be.
This year's Not Pink Saturday is expected to cost more than previous years, perhaps because of The Center's promise to make it even more festive than before despite this hubbub and last year's fest came it at $80,000 with the Sisters footing the bill. The city, thanks to Scott Wiener, has agreed to foot the bill this time.