In pictures: how hospo prepped (and played) at Victoria’s Pride Street Party

Drinking Melbourne is the weekly newsletter from drinks writer Fred Siggins, unpacking what’s happening in Melbourne’s bars (and what you can learn from them), sent every Tuesday to your inbox. Get on the list here.

In today’s Melbourne briefing:

• an open to close look — in pictures — of Sunday’s Pride Party;
• how bars and pubs got involved;
• a new owner for the Pinnacle;
• and Maison Bâtard is after a new bar manager.

The rainbow flags were flying high over Gertrude Street Sunday as the businesses along the strip and around the corner down Smith set up for the Victoria’s Pride Street Party, the last hurrah of Midsumma, Melbourne’s major queer festival. I’m was on my way to work an afternoon shift at The Catfish, wandering up Gertrude to take some photos on my way (with two bunches of celery for the many Bloody Marys we expected to make sticking out of my backpack — take that Carrot Man).

This early in the day, things are just getting started, as the bars, pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants are setting up for what looks like it’s going to be a huge shift. The Builders Arms is set with frozen Margies inside, and a stand outside doing snags and Stomping Ground Pride Ale, while the Fitzroy Beer Garden has a phalanx of slushie machines ready to go, filled with frozen Pornstars and Watermelon Margaritas, and there are drinks stands set up in front of pretty much every venue. Everyone from the Turkish kebab shops to the Japanese izakayas to the couture optometrist are on board to celebrate, and it’s wonderful to see the whole community out and loud and proud, beaming and preening in the summer sun.

Snapping pictures of the thirsty throng, I get the lowdown on what they’re drinking this year. Aperol Spritzes and frozen Margaritas seem to be the most popular cocktails going, but there’s some other fun stuff to sip as well.

“A passionfruit cocktail of some description — I can recommend!” a happy chap in a jaunty Hawaiian tells me. Turns out it’s a Passionfruit Smash from the Darling Distillery stand.

Of course Moondrop is down on street level getting amongst it, serving blue drinks in wearable bags — so convenient! — while Belle’s Hot Chicken is doing old fashioned lemonade (with or without booze), The Gertrude Hotel has an old-school Kombi pouring beers, there’s Stomping Ground on tap everywhere, and Builders is doing some sort of cocktail in cute mini Don Julio bottles. And of course, despite being a block off the actual street party, The Catfish has the flags flying and Bloody Marys flowing for anyone who wants an air conditioned break from the melee.

I ran back out on my break around 5pm to take more photos, and it’s been that kind of day when the rain is punctuated by spans of hot summer sun that turn the puddles to steam, making a sauna of the whole neighbourhood. At this point in the evening, the parents have taken the little kids home, so why not get hot and sweaty?

I asked Carlan Pickings, who has been a business owner on this street for over 10 years (Pickings & Parry/Heffernan & Haire), what this time of year means to her.

“The Pride Celebration is a vital part of our world every year,” she told me. “It’s a chance for us to come together with the community, give something back to them [they were offering free haircuts all day] and let them know ‘we see you and we celebrate you.’ It’s wonderful to see this mix of families, artists, activists, queer and straight, all coming together to have fun and celebrate love.”

I finally knock off at 9pm as the stalls on the street are packing up. One of the McConnell crew who’s been behind the bar at The Builders Arms tells me, “It’s been a long time since I did a shift where I was 20-deep at the bar. It got crazy.” I asked the cook running the sausage sizzle outside how many snags he reckons they sold over the day. “Almost a thousand,” he laughs with that laugh only a cook who has been standing over a grill for nine hours on a humid, 30 degree day can laugh. I hope his knock-off tastes extra crisp.

While most of the stalls have packed up, the DJs are still playing outside the Gertrude and The Builders, and the dance floors are heaving. The top balcony of a classic Fitzroy two story terrace overlooking the sweaty, gyrating crush has an epic vantage point, and the crew at Fitzroy Beer Garden are restocking for the night to come.

Wandering down Smith Street, I thought the street festival was over. Long lines at New Guernica, the Grace Darling, Circuit and other late night venues signalled that the party was continuing inside. As I got closer to Kent Street, I could hear thumping four-to-the-floor beats and see a whole other dance floor on the go, spilling across the road despite the hi-vis-clad workers attempting to clear the street. At Babines, a small after party was thriving in the back room while cowboy-hatted bartenders still served out the front, and further along at Pubcha Korean Restaurant, the flags were still flying and the skewers still grilling with big smiles all around.

As I made my way home, not wanting to intrude with my camera into indoor spaces that should remain safe from my cic het self, I see the crew from Arcadia having a well-deserved knock-off out front, and through the window of The Gertrude, some fabulous friends with still enough energy to vamp for me in the blue light of the after party.

So this week I say Happy Pride, and Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all. Love is love.

Around the bars

Pinnacle Panache. Michael Bascetta (ex-Bar Liberty, Capitano) has taken over as custodian of the much-loved Pinnacle Hotel in Fitzroy North. In its new life, the pub’s kitchen will be led by Scott Eddington (Arnolds, Mamasita, A1 Canteen, Automata), with Jamie McDonnell (Reed House, JK Restaurants London) as venue manager. Currently closed for renovations, The Pinnacle will reopen on February 18th.

Faire Maison Neuve. Ruben Beasley-Palmer is stepping down as the Bar Manager of Lucas Group’s multi million dollar French brasseries Maison Batard after steering the bar program there through its opening year. We wish him well on wherever his journey takes him next, and if you reckon you’ve got the chops to fill his calvados-shaped clogs, you can apply to take over the role at the link here.