RipplePHX, a grassroots organization emphasizing HIV and AIDS awareness and education, presents its fall carnival extravaganza with a Halloween and Dia de los Muertos theme. The festival will be at Stacy’s on Melrose in Phoenix on October 28th and 29th.
There will be drag shows, carnival games with prizes, costume contests, a vendor market with arts and crafts and food, Dia de los Muertos altars, an escape tent and themed food and drinks.
RipplePHX co-founders and partners Jason Jones and Jeremy Bright make all the usual, old-school-style games that are at the carnival.
“It’s literally going to be in our backyard that we’re going to put these games together. Whether it’s a play tent, a market tent or signage, it’s all done here. I would definitely say we’re cautious about the organization,” Jones said.
Many of the games are inspired by classic carnival games. Players will try to throw rings into bottles, put balls into baskets or cups, guess in a High or Low card game, or shoot toy ducks with water.
Prizes include superhero inflatables, colorful cat ears, plush donuts and zombie or unicorn toys.
The Great Carny Escape escape room is designed for groups of four to six people who will solve puzzles to advance to the next stage. Advance registration is required.
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Add a photo to the Dia de los Muertos altar
Attendees can add photos of lost loved ones to the community Dia de Los Muertos ofrenda or email photos to be added to a digital altar, which will also be displayed during the event.
“We will have a TV screen there. If you want to remember someone, you can send an email right away. We’ll put it on the rotating display over the weekend. We thought some people would actually bring in a photo, but we also wanted other people who might not have known about it to participate in some way,” Jones said.
An altar will honor Lady Catiria, a Puerto Rican pageant queen and activist from New York who died of complications from AIDS in the late 1990s.
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A tribute show on Friday night will feature local drag performers performing ’90s-themed pop music. A Saturday evening Dia de los Muertos show will feature performances by a mariachi band, dancers and drag performers.
Other shows throughout the weekend will highlight local drag queens and royalty.
The event is a fundraiser for RipplePHX and other LGBT organizations, including Arizona Imperial Court, Equality Maricopa and Trans Queer Pueblo.
HIV testing, carnival education
Free HIV testing will be available during the carnival. People can register for testing near the ticket station.
They will be informed of their results by RipplePHX staff members or someone from a partner agency, such as Chicanos por la Causa, who can share information about prevention methods, such as daily PrEP pills, with those who test. negative or HIV resources available. for those who test positive.
Jones says conducting HIV testing during community events helps reach more people, including those who have never been tested before.
“We want our community to have a good time, to have fun, to come together, but we also understand that if we do an HIV testing event, no one is going to show up for sure. This is not the most fun thing to do. It gives us the opportunity while we’re organizing let’s say a carnival to talk to people about HIV,” Jones said.
How RipplePHX Became a Community Resource
Jones and Bright, who have been together for 10 years, started RipplePHX in 2018. Early on, when they had just started dating, Jones found out that he was HIV positive and Bright was HIV negative. While they had several resources, they didn’t know where to turn for more personalized information.
“At that time in 2012/early 2013, we were looking for sources for us, what spoke to us. We had work. We had insurance. It didn’t have those needs,” Jones said.
“Our needs were how do we maneuver this? How do we handle a new relationship where I’m positive and you’re negative? What’s our future going to look like?… We found a lot of clinical stuff. That’s not what we were looking for. We’re we wanted the more personal, the more community.”
Bright, whose background is in graphic design and marketing, left his job in the private sector to work for an HIV nonprofit. However, he found it wasn’t the right fit. Jones previously worked in a payroll job.
They started RipplePHX because they wanted to take a grassroots approach to HIV education and awareness.
“That’s always been our goal, to stay on mission and do the work for the community,” Jones said.
RipplePHX Fall Carnival Extravaganza
When: 7pm-2am on Friday and Saturday, October 28-29.
Where: Stacy’s on Melrose, 4343 N. Seventh Ave., Phoenix.
Acceptance: Free; fees for carnival games, escape room, food and beverage.
Details: https://ripplephx.org.
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