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Gay Pride Organizers Promise Quieter Revelry on TriBeCa Pier This June

 Participants at the gay pride parade in New York City on June 30, 2013.
Participants at the gay pride parade in New York City on June 30, 2013.
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DNAinfo/Stephanie Keith

TRIBECA — Gay pride events are returning to Pier 26 in June — and they'll be quieter than they were last year, organizers promised this week.

TriBeCa residents, mostly from the Independence Plaza complex next to the pier, complained to police and local politicians last year about the blaring music from the parties, especially during a concert headlined by Cher.

“The problem was three days of very, very loud music from the afternoon to the evening — so loud that we heard every comment,” said Diane Lapson, the president of Independence Plaza’s tenants association, during a recent Community Board 1 meeting. “Cher was in my living room, let’s put it that way.”

Chris Frederick, the managing director of Heritage of Pride, which organizes events — including the famous Greenwich Village NYC Pride March  — vowed to turn down the sound this year, by facing the stage and speakers toward the water, away from buildings.

“It is my understanding that this will drastically improve the sound,” Frederick said at the Wednesday night meeting, adding that he wants to keep an open dialogue with residents to make sure the experience this year is much better for neighbors.

Tom Lindon, the vice president of marketing and affairs for the Hudson River Park Trust, added at the meeting that an acoustic sound consultant will help to “weigh in on the direction of those speakers, the volume of those speakers, and he will make those recommendations.”

Because of similar noise issues last summer, the Hudson River Park Trust decided to cut the summer concert series that had run on Pier 26. 

The gay pride events on the pier are set to kick off on June 27, with free music and dancing from 6 p.m. to 9:30 pm.

Pride weekend’s women-centric dance party, Tease, will be held on June 28 from 3 to 10 p.m and will require purchased tickets.

And on June 29, the same day as this year's march, Pier 26 will be home to another major dance party. Pride's Dance on the Pier, a fundraising bash that's been held for more than 25 years, will run from 3 to 10 p.m.

The events moved to TriBeCa for the first time last year because of structural issues at Chelsea’s Pier 54, where the festivities had long been held.

For more information about Pride events and ticketing, head to Heritage of Pride.