First National Festival of LGBT History

As Communications Director for the First National Festival of LGBT History, I built the website and authored all copy and communications. This volunteer position consumed considerable free time for approximately one year.

The site was constructed using Middleman, a static site generator chosen for its flexibility and customizability. The primary technical challenge involved creating an event calendar system capable of handling approximately 100 events organized by 8 volunteers across multiple venues.

Rather than adopting existing solutions, I collaborated with Phoebe Queen to develop a custom calendar using Google Calendar as the backend. The system converted ICS files into HTML using a Ruby parser, with additional ticketing information extracted from YAML data. The solution proved effective for both developers and attendees.

Project Details

• Timeline: April 2014 - February 2015
• Technology: Middleman, Github Pages, Google Calendar, custom calendar code
• Team: Kim Foale (development, writing, management), Mark Dormand (design), Phoebe Queen (calendar development and editorial support)
• Source Code: Available on GitHub

The 2015 festival site remains accessible for browsing.