Gay Party Promoter Bruce Yelk to Shut Down Nightlifegay, May Leave the Nightlife Events Scene Altogether


Today, prolific Philly LGBT events promoter Bruce Yelk announced that he will cease daily blogging on his 15-year-old events/news website Nightlifegay.com. Here, his final post:

For the last 20 some years I have been front and center in Philadelphia’s gay nightlife scene. I have managed nightclubs, tended bar, hosted, planned and executed over 200 events, penned stories, blogged daily for much of that time. I have met some of the nicest and dearest people along the way.

In addition to all those activities in my personal life, I have of course worked at Visit Philadelphia running it’s gay campaign, executing events and pitching stories to press for the past 12 years.

Nightlifegay.com has not always been a blog. It started out as simply as a place to find information on my upcoming events. The blogging began as a way to drive traffic to my events. However, as anyone who has tried their hand at it know it takes time. With that said, this will be my final blog post on Nightlifegay.com.

What does that mean for my events? I will most likely produce a few here and there but I am still figuring that out.

I don’t know about you, but this sounds an awful lot like he’s retiring from the scene altogether. Are the days of Bruce Yelk-hosted events a thing of the past?

“That is a hard thing to answer right now,” he says. “My brands are well-established, but I don’t find it exciting anymore — and it takes us so much time. If [Nightlifegay.com] continues by me it would be an event listing site again. However, I do not know if I will continue on the events.”

Even Pink Pub Crawl?

“I may try to sell the Pink Pub Crawl since it is trademarked and known nationally.”

I heard Josh Schonewolf is planning on buying it. 

“I haven’t talked to anyone about it … I have had other promoters ask me from other cities about it, but that is it.”

Just out of curiosity, how much could you get for Pink Pub Crawl? 

“I would sell it for $25K.”

Wow! Really?

“You have to keep in mind that it is trademarked, and cancer organizations try to use the name a lot … so that is actually cheap.

Cancer organizations? 

As I am sure you are aware, Susan G. Komen and other cancer organizations use a pink ribbon as their image. So there are a lot of pink events tied to it. I have had to send cease and desist letters often to those benefits to protect my brand.”