Lexington Pride Festival is ‘having that celebration moment’ with first-ever parade
Kristin Mingle, dressed in a fitted, long-sleeved outfit intended to look something like what Mae West would’ve worn to the Kentucky Derby, fanned in Saturday’s sweltering heat.
“I miss AC,” Mingle told the crowd from the main stage at the Lexington Pride Festival.
But the heat was worth it to Mingle.
The Pride Festival was back outside again, after a few years indoors at Central Bank Center.
“We need the visibility above all else,” said Mingle, who stepped down on Saturday as the reigning Miss Lexington Pride.
This year’s Pride Festival was held along Oliver Lewis Way, and organizers took advantage of that long, straight stretch between High Street and South Broadway to host the city’s first-ever Pride parade.
Jason Schubert, board president at the Lexington Pride Center, said a parade is something people have wanted over the years, and it hearkens back to the roots of protest in the LGBTQ+ movement.
“Really having that celebration moment” is important, Schubert said. “I’m thrilled with the crowd. It’s a bright sunny day, and we’re doing great things.”
He said an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people were expected to attend the festival Saturday.
Mingle said serving as one of the grand marshals in that parade will be the quintessential moment that will stick with her from the past year as Miss Lexington Pride.
“It was an honor and a blessing,” Mingle said, adding, “I did cry a little bit” upon hearing people greeting one another with “Happy Pride!” just before the parade began.
“I enjoyed seeing all the lovely, smiling faces,” she said, and tossing out candy to parade-goers.
Mingle, of Lexington, grew up in Somerset and was part of the marching band and color guard in high school.
Saturday marked “my first time being in a parade that I wasn’t spinning a flag,” Mingle quipped.
Mingle said she loved being able to represent Lexington as the face of Pride but was happy to be stepping down from her post to “welcome in the new people and new minds.”
Mingle passed the Miss Lexington Pride 2025 crown to Paris Stilettos-Foxx, who said in an interview that she is “super excited to just bring my platform of love and acceptance.”
“I’m a glamour comedy queen,” Stilettos-Foxx said, adding that she enjoys making people laugh.
Stilettos-Foxx, of Shelbyville, has been doing drag for about 3 and 1/2 years and competed for the Miss Lexington Pride title over two nights last week.
One aspect of the competition, she said, involved presenting “what Pride means to me.”
“I was raised in a deeply religious household, and my faith, growing up, shaped everything that I knew,” Stilettos-Foxx said. “So, I knew when I was growing up that I was gay, but I thought that I had to choose between being my true self, or honoring my family and my faith.
“But then I realized I could be both. I can be openly gay, spiritual and completely me. So it took a long journey to get there.
“But here I am, and I’m proud of every step it took.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2025 at 4:56 PM.
