Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine Prete and Dariella Blanco.
Hi Katherine and Dariella, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hi! We are Katherine Prete and Dariella Blanco. We are the hostesses of Second Friday ATL! We host a monthly queer party in Atlanta.
Katherine: I am a Colorado native and moved to Atlanta three years ago. Yes, people think I’m crazy for leaving colorful Colorado for Atlanta, but here I am! I am a Realtor by day and a lover of all things outdoors. I have a passion for bringing people together and creating inclusive events for the community. I currently live in Buckhead with my fiancé, who is also named Catherine. We are getting married in April!
Some background on how this Second Friday event came to fruition. I first came out in 2012 while living in Denver, CO. I went out one night and noticed a LOT of gay women at the bar I was at. I asked someone where I was. They said, “oh, you’re at Second Friday, aka Lesbian night; it’s the second Friday of every month”. I ended up having one of the most amazing nights that night, I was newly out and I instantly had this community who welcomed me with open arms. I can honestly say I looked forward to Second Friday in Denver each month and I went to almost every single one since 2012! I met some of my best friends there, I was able to network and most importantly, connect with new people and have fun.
With all of that being said, I was craving connection within my community, and I knew I wanted to bring something similar to Atlanta. It seemed like a lot to actually make it happen, especially right after Covid. Then I met my counterpart, Dariella Blanco. We actually met during pride weekend at a restaurant, I remember saying to her, “Atlanta needs more lesbian events, we should do a monthly event!” Within a few days of telling Dariella about this idea of bringing Second Friday to Atlanta, she had locked down a venue and hired a DJ…and suddenly it was real! She convinced me we could actually pull this off. We had posted the idea of Second Friday ATL on the Queer Women’s Network – Atlanta Facebook page asking if anyone would come to something like this and within 24 hours we had over 60 comments of people saying they would LOVE something like this and would absolutely attend. So we did it! Our first event was in November of 2021 and we had 120 people. We now have over 500 people each month and it continues to grow.
Dariella: My name is Dariella, my passions are helping others, making people laugh, traveling, music and dancing; I’m originally from Venezuela but I have lived here most of my life. I came to the USA young with a tennis scholarship to play at university in Louisiana.
While in college, I came out and finally became fully free to be who I have always been but couldn’t be back in my country. I came out so hard that I became the “Goddess of Pensacola Pride” — I’ve gone 14 years in a row. I’ve met lots of people throughout the years of Jell-O shots & funneling beers from octopus-looking funnels on the sandy beach of Pensacola (they should have a sand castle with my name on it there in my honor, I know)
When I first moved to Atlanta, we used to go out to the old MSR in Decatur & it was the perfect spot to meet ladies, dance & socialize amongst us. I love dancing so I found myself going to straight or underground bars because of their venues and music selection…but not exactly a place to meet the ladies.
I know we have all been looking for a fun, sexy, and overall cool place to meet up, dance and have a good time together; so here we are making an effort to bring that to Atlanta and offer all of us a beautiful place to be on the Second Friday of every month.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a pretty smooth road actually! We knew this event would work in our community and Atlanta is big enough that people would come. We wanted to create an event once a month that our community was excited about. The concept is simple… Second Friday, our parties are once a month. It’s easy to remember and everyone shows up for it because it’s only once a month. I would say the few struggles we have had have has been finding a homebase venue that can accommodate us. We are growing and we are growing fast. We now have over 500 people come to our events each month so we need venues with a lot of bathrooms, parking, and infostructure. We have been lucky to have our events all over Atlanta; we started at Argosy in their Brig room, it was the vibe we wanted, but we quickly outgrew it, we then went to Georgia Beer Garden, but they have a curfew so we had to move the party inside just before midnight. We are now at Monday Night Garage and it has been a great fit for our event because they can accommodate our large numbers. The relationships we have built with venues all over Atlanta has been wonderful. We know that a lot of businesses got hit hard after Covid, so it’s nice to be able to help some of these local spots stay afloat. I would say the other thing that sneaks up on us each month is hiring a new DJ, we try to rotate the DJ each month and try to keep the sound fresh and switch it up so it appeals to everyone.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Dariella: As Second Friday continues to grow, we have more and more ideas of bringing more queer events to our community. We now have Second Friday running like a well-oiled machine and feel ready to branch out. We have some really fun things planned for upcoming PRIDE and we want to start hosting monthly brunches and dinners. There may even be a pool party eventually! Stay tuned!
What should people know about Second Friday ATL?
Katherine: Second Friday is a safe space once a month for people to come, mingle, dance, let loose and have fun. Second Friday ATL is open to all! Queer, Trans, Lesbian, bi, however you may identify, please come one, come all.
I love what we have created these past few years and we hope to continue to grow it. It feels good to help local businesses, give back to the community and donate to charity. We donate some of our proceeds each month to Lost N Found Youth which is a nonprofit that seeks to end homelessness. If you haven’t come to one of our events, we hope to see you there!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: secondfridayatl
Image Credits
Image Credits: Jennifer Moore / JEM photography
