Folsom Street Fair less kinky, more corporate
San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair, the sexually explicit celebration of bondage and leather now in its 30th year, has shaken off its kinky image, attracting mainstream corporate sponsorship from the likes of Marriott Marquis Hotel and American Airlines.
"It's a great, local, San Francisco-based homegrown event, so it's exciting for the San Francisco Marriott Marquis to be part of it," said Frank Manchen, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.
The LGBT market is "a diverse community with many different options" when it comes to travel, he said. "I don't think it's anything new that corporate America is figuring out how to woo those dollars."
Still, the role of the Marriott chain in San Francisco's most graphic public festival, set for South of Market on Sunday, raises eyebrows of some longtime political observers.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Folsom-Street-Fair-less-kinky-more-corporate-4851461.php
