We were very proud to see July’s issue doing better then we had expected for pick-ups – most gay locations needed additional copies within a week of it coming out! From what we can tell, this has been our best distribution ever! We were very happy to hear that lots of people that were attending the ARGRA Rodeo received copies of the magazines from the hotels that they were staying in.

Speaking of which, the ARGRA Rodeo weekend was spectacular! My partner Rob and I had such a great time watching the events, and of course, checking out the hot cowboys!! Being there was probably the most positive experience we’ve ever had at a major gay event. One evening in the Symon’s Valley Lodge, a man walked up to us out of the blue and without even introducing himself he said "You’re the ones that put out GayCalgary.com Magazine aren’t you? You’re doing a great job, keep it up!" and then walked away before we could even thank him. But speaking of a job well done, kudos to ARGRA for putting together another awesome Rodeo, we are very proud to have been a sponsor this year, and already can’t wait for next year.

Several business owners from out of town encouraged us to send them copies of our magazine for them to distribute at their establishments. Well, who are we to turn them down? While we continue to expand our distribution in Calgary, we will now also be distributed at select locations in Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg! We hope that this step will help encourage more people to come visit Calgary, and when they do, they’ll already have a guide! Plus this is a big bonus to our advertisers since there’s no cost increase for this extended distribution.

You may notice that this issue is running an ad from outside of Calgary – specifically, we are sponsoring Aids Vancouver by running their campaign for free in our magazine. We’re also including them on our Terminals and TV ads. Any advertising that promotes Aids awareness is beneficial to everyone, especially when it points out some of the contradictory assumptions that HIV positive and negative people can have without even knowing it.

Last but not least, the Rocky Mountain Bears group has BearBash 2004 coming up from September 24th to 26th, which we are happy to sponsor with free advertising. The Rocky Mountain Bears are looking for contestants for this event - contact Curtis at events@rockymountainbears.com.

Related Articles

Contributor Rob Diaz-Marino | Steve Polyak |

Locale Calgary |

Topic Publisher's Column |