13th annual Out In The Park returns to Six Flags Great America, Sept. 7
Wed. August 28, 2024 8:42 AM by Ross Forman
out in the park, 2023
photo credit // ken brown
The year’s event will be bittersweet for organizer Michael Snell: ‘Everyone loved Derrick’
The 13th annual LGBTQ+ Diversity Night at Six Flags Great America in north suburban Gurnee – Out In The Park – is a four-hour adrenaline-rush roller coaster ride, literally, set for Saturday, September 7, starting at 8 p.m.
“Out In The Park is always a fun time. People are full of energy and there to have a great time, no drama,” said Michael Snell, event organizer. “It is a time to celebrate Pride at the end of summer with family and friends and all sorts of cool people celebrating a night of diversity and inclusion.”
No more than 5,000 tickets will be sold.
Advance tickets ($46) are available at GaySixFlagsChicago.com.
About 4,000 attended last year. Snell said 4,500 are expected this year.
Out In The Park will feature the sounds of Chicago’s DJ Sean Parks and Milwaukee’s DJ RNB, and it is a fund-raiser for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Out In The Park will be extremely emotional for Snell, who is still grieving his partner of 25 years, Derrick Sorles, who passed away on July 2. The Best Gay Travel Guides Online Publishing co-founder and owner died at his home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico after a two-day battle with pancreatitis and an internal infection. He was 58.
He died two days before their 25th anniversary.
“He was feeling sick for a couple days, but did not think it was life-threatening,” Snell said. “His local doctor thought he had pancreatitis and he was receiving IV fluids for that and (was) feeling better. Then he went into the bathroom, collapsed and died.”
Snell said the outpouring of love and support from Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community over the past two months “has been great.”
“Everyone loved Derrick,” he said.
Snell said that Sorles “loved saying ‘Hi’ to (Out In The Park attendees) and thanking them for coming. He loved talking to people.
“Derrick had great character and everyone liked him, his smile and his energy. He was always eager to help, in any way he could.”
Snell said he has been working full-time since Sorles passing, which keeps his mind busy. Sadness hits hard when he returns home – to an empty house.
“We did everything together, so it’s like half of me is gone forever,” Snell said. “We had so much fun together and so many great times. He always said the same thing, ‘that I hope I go first, Michael, because I don’t want to live without you. I wouldn’t be able to survive.’
“Neither of us could see a life without the other in it. I know it will take time. I’m just trying to take it day by day right now.”
“Out In The Park is always a fun time. People are full of energy and there to have a great time, no drama,” said Michael Snell, event organizer. “It is a time to celebrate Pride at the end of summer with family and friends and all sorts of cool people celebrating a night of diversity and inclusion.”
No more than 5,000 tickets will be sold.
Advance tickets ($46) are available at GaySixFlagsChicago.com.
About 4,000 attended last year. Snell said 4,500 are expected this year.
Out In The Park will feature the sounds of Chicago’s DJ Sean Parks and Milwaukee’s DJ RNB, and it is a fund-raiser for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Out In The Park will be extremely emotional for Snell, who is still grieving his partner of 25 years, Derrick Sorles, who passed away on July 2. The Best Gay Travel Guides Online Publishing co-founder and owner died at his home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico after a two-day battle with pancreatitis and an internal infection. He was 58.
He died two days before their 25th anniversary.
“He was feeling sick for a couple days, but did not think it was life-threatening,” Snell said. “His local doctor thought he had pancreatitis and he was receiving IV fluids for that and (was) feeling better. Then he went into the bathroom, collapsed and died.”
Snell said the outpouring of love and support from Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community over the past two months “has been great.”
“Everyone loved Derrick,” he said.
Snell said that Sorles “loved saying ‘Hi’ to (Out In The Park attendees) and thanking them for coming. He loved talking to people.
“Derrick had great character and everyone liked him, his smile and his energy. He was always eager to help, in any way he could.”
Snell said he has been working full-time since Sorles passing, which keeps his mind busy. Sadness hits hard when he returns home – to an empty house.
“We did everything together, so it’s like half of me is gone forever,” Snell said. “We had so much fun together and so many great times. He always said the same thing, ‘that I hope I go first, Michael, because I don’t want to live without you. I wouldn’t be able to survive.’
“Neither of us could see a life without the other in it. I know it will take time. I’m just trying to take it day by day right now.”
- For more information, including tickets, go to GaySixFlagsChicago.com.