Press Release 2004

Press Release: 02/09/2004

For Release 02/20/2004:

Peacock Productions, Inc. announces that Peacock in the Park 2004 will be the final Peacock in the Park. For several reasons (enunciated below) Peacock Productions, Inc. has decided to discontinue production of Peacock in the Park, the largest annual fundraiser for the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund, following the 18^th annual event scheduled for June 27, 2004 at the Amphitheater in Washington Park.

The primary focus of Peacock Productions, Inc. is and has always been to raise money for the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund which was established in 1988 by Lady Elaine Peacock a.k.a. Woody Johnson, Misty Waters, Ray Southwick and Rosey Waters a.k.a. Robert Hill. Audria M. Edwards was the biological Mother of Lady Elaine Peacock and Misty Waters and surrogate Mother to hundreds of members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans gender community. In her honor Peacock Productions, Inc. will continue to raise money for the Scholarship Fund and annual grants will continue to be made to GLBT individuals and/or their children.

The primary reason for the cancellation of future Peacock in the Park events is financial. The event has grown exponentially over the past several years and has quickly become too expensive to be profitable. Last year expenses for the event topped out at over $20,000.00 leaving a net profit of just over $7,000.00. This year promises to be even more expensive as prices continue to soar. Our Park permits alone have doubled for this year rounding out at over $2,400.00. Peacock Productions, Inc. has decided that the money usually used for Peacock in the Park overhead could be used differently to generate more money for the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund.

Some secondary reasons for this change in operation are as follows:

	We really want to go out while the event is still well loved. Our motto has always been “Leave them wanting more”. We feel that we have made Lady Elaine Peacock proud with what we have done in her name and we feel it is time to move on. We are ready for new challenges and will be investigating fundraising alternatives after the completion of Peacock in the Park 2004.
	The event has become too large for the venue but we have no desire to move to a new location using the same format. Lady Elaine Peacock’s ashes were spread at Washington Park Amphitheater shortly after her death by her life partner Ray Southwick, Peacock Productions, Inc. founding members Maria Council, Kimberlee Van Patten, Kevin Cook and a few other close friends. For this reason, we do not wish to move Peacock in the Park. Literally, Peacock is in that Park!
	We have been very fortunate for the last 17 years in that we have never had any problems with protesters, the neighborhood associations, the Parks Bureau, the Portland Police or any other group. Our crowds have always been very cooperative, have helped clean up after the event and have acted properly. The Parks Bureau and the Portland Police consider us a model event as we have never had any real disturbances and have always left the park very clean.

Peacock Productions, Inc. does have long-term goals and does intend to continue to raise money for the Audria M. Edwards Scholarship Fund. However, we do not wish to discuss any specifics at this time as our focus now is to make Peacock in the Park 2004 the very best it can be.

We wish to thank all our sponsors and participants for 17 years of support. With the support of the community we have granted more than $118,000.00 to gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans gender individuals and/or their children seeking higher education. We are asking our friends in the community to give us one more, great event at Washington Park Amphitheater so we can go out with a highly successful fundraiser and show this City what an awesome group the gay community is!