White Party creator reflects on 30 years of entertainment
It’s a very festive atmosphere in Palm Springs with the white party kicking off its 30th year.
“First time I came to Palm Springs, and I was like this is such an oasis in the desert and I was like let’s do something outside of a nightclub,” Jeffery Sanker, the creator of White Party Palm Springs, said.
What was an idea 30 years ago, turned into an internationally known event for him in developing the White Party.
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“I had faith in it. It took me a bunch of years to really get it going and get people to talk about it and then it just kept going,” he said.
30,000 people are expected to attend the three-day event, celebrating and embracing the gay culture. It’s a huge jump from the 500 that came for the first event something long-time party-goers have seen.
“Initially it was a very small kind of a more intimate would be exaggerating but it was much smaller,” John McHugh-Dennis of Los Angeles, said.
Sanker has seen his event evolve through the lens of acceptance saying the city has embraced the LGBTQ community after not being so welcoming 30 years ago.
“It was really hard to do events and really few places were accepting of the gay community and 30 years later, this is one of the largest LGBT communities in the country,” he said.
Ultimately for Sanker, the White Party is all about bringing a good time and a sense of happiness.
“The things that you see and how you touch people’s hearts really make a difference for me,” he said.
The weekend is also a major economic driver for the city, with an estimated $1.5 million in revenue just from the hotel tax revenue alone according to Sanker.
