The Young and The Restless | One Big Party on the Mardi

By Bree Harding

Feb 28, 2023

Positivity: Good vibes only at Mardi Gras.

Sometimes the restless have to go adventuring without the young.

Especially when part of what makes the restless one restless is being a single parent.

There is not a day, night or weekend when I’m not working that I don’t have underage company unless I farm my (not so) little ones off to my parents’ place.

Some things I want to do are suited only to the over-age ones among us.

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is one of those.

Not because of the essence of the celebration — I mean, we all could have gone to the street parade itself — but I wanted to experience more than that.

I wanted to kick on at the clubs afterwards and soak up the whole atmosphere.

Mardi Gras has been on my bucket list of events to attend for many years.

I’ve loved watching the vibrancy, the flamboyancy, the good vibes, the happy faces, the upbeat music, the inclusivity and the pride the community has in its Pride celebration, on the TV and social media.

I chose this year to jump on that plane and tick it off my bucket list because it was the first year the parade was back in Oxford St since the pandemic hit.

What I didn’t realise until I’d arrived is that this year’s event wasn’t just the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, it was WorldPride – the whole world’s international LGBTQIA+ celebratory event (established in 2000, but it has become more frequently held in recent years, with an event every two years since 2017) — so it was set to be HUGE!

One of my besties, who lives north of Sydney, and her girlfriend, who lives in Sydney, picked me up from the airport around lunchtime on Saturday and our party started immediately.

Sparkling: Bree (right) and her friend Ashlee dressed and ready for Mardi Gras.

We grabbed some refreshments on our way to their Sydney spot and once we’d kicked back catching up over a couple and the place started filling with more friends, we started slowly getting ready for the night.

Festival make-up and accessories, wild outfits and oh-so-many rainbows — what is not to love?

After a few costume changes, add-ons, take-offs, sharing make-up, switching jewellery and lots of photos, we headed out the door and in to the thick of it.

Let’s party: Dressed and ready to hit the city for Mardi Gras celebrations.

Instead of heading to Oxford St, my friends had organised tickets to watch the parade on a cinema-sized screen at an old abandoned theatre (that is now enjoying a new life as a night spot), because as anyone who caught glimpses of the parade on TV or was there themselves would have seen, crowds were up to 20 or more deep on the street.

Being we had a mix of short, claustrophobic and anxious people in our group, they were not ideal conditions for viewing pleasure.

The vibe inside the club was amazing and the view was unobstructed. For maximum comfort, we even got to sit down!

Later we headed to another ticketed event (a Big Night Out Pub Crawl), where we moved on foot with a large group between multiple night spots, partying the night away.

The atmosphere was incredible; I didn’t catch one bad vibe in our vicinity and, given we didn’t make our way home until 3am, that’s quite impressive.

I mean, at my age and in my situation, it would be rare for me to hit a club or have a night out that late, but on those occasions it does start getting a little crazy once the clock has struck 12.

Not at Mardi Gras though — everyone was out celebrating pride and love, diversity and inclusivity.

If anything got wilder after midnight, it was the outfits — clothes were optional, with only scant tabs of electrical tape carefully placed to cover up specific body parts, full see-through mesh dresses over G-strings, shirtless men wearing nothing but bowties on top.

It was the biggest dress-up party I’ve ever been to.