Por Benny Cartwright

With the annual San Diego LGBT Pride celebration fast approaching, Hillcrest is getting ready to host the hundreds of thousands of people who will descend upon the neighborhood for the weekend. We are pleased to have a great partnership with San Diego Pride, the organization that produces the events, and got to hear from their executive director, Stephen Whitburn, at our most recent community meeting on June 9.

Whitburn talked about some of the highlights of the weekend, which include the Spirit of Stonewall Rally and the Pride of Hillcrest Block Party on the night of July 17, the annual Pride Parade on July 18 starting at 11 a.m. and the two-day Pride Music Festival in Balboa Park on July 18 and 19.

More details about Pride weekend can be found online at sdpride.org.

With so many people spending the weekend in and around the neighborhood on Pride weekend, it gets a little messy. Each year, the Hillcrest Town Council and Hillcrest Clean T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More) host a post-Pride clean-up. This year’s clean-up is scheduled for July 20 at 8 a.m. when volunteers will meet at the corner of University and Essex. HTC appreciates the help of as many people as possible, so please join us if you can. For more information contact HTC chair Luke Terpstra at 619-206-2018 or [email protected].

Another exciting event happening in the community related to Pride is the lighting of UCSD Medical Center in rainbow colors. While the hospital building has been lit in the past with red for heart health awareness and pink for breast cancer awareness, this is the first time the hospital will be lit in rainbow colors. The hospital will light up the building for the month of July in rainbow colors. This shows the hospital’s commitment and support to the LGBT community, which has a long history in Hillcrest. A lighting ceremony will be held on Tuesday, June 30 at 7 p.m. at the hospital, located at 200 W. Arbor Drive. For more information or to RSVP, visit health.ucsd.edu/pridelighting.

Summertime is Hillcrest is a lot of fun, and we hope all of our neighbors and visitors enjoy it to the fullest. We also invite our neighbors to get involved in the community this summer, and consider attending a meeting of the Hillcrest Town Council and listening, learning, speaking up, and meeting other neighbors. For years, HTC has been a place for the residents of Hillcrest — whether they own or rent — can come and share concerns, learn more about the neighborhood, and get involved in making Hillcrest a better place.

The next meeting of the Hillcrest Town Council is scheduled for July 14 at 6:30 p.m. If you’ve never come to a meeting, or haven’t been in awhile, please join us — we’d love to meet you. All meetings include updates from representatives of our local elected officials, a time for community members to share concerns, and special presentations on a number of topics of interest. We meet at the Joyce Beers Community Center in the HUB Shopping Center.

Learn more about us at hillcresttowncouncil.com. Happy Pride, Hillcrest!

—Benny Cartwright es secretario del Ayuntamiento de Hillcrest.