‘A safe space for everyone’: What to know for Lexington Pride Festival
Pride Month in Lexington will kick off this weekend, with the city’s 18th annual Pride Festival on Saturday.
The free festival will again be held outdoors this year, from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. along Oliver Lewis Way, between South Broadway and High Street.
As the biggest fundraiser for the Lexington Pride Center, the planning has been taking place months in advance to level up from last year’s festivities.
“We had a great problem to solve as our festival has grown so much, and unfortunately, the courthouse plaza wasn’t going to work for us anymore, it was just too small,” said Jason Schubert, board president of the Lexington Pride Center and lead festival organizer. “So we jumped at the opportunity of Oliver Lewis Way, and it’s worked really well for us, so we’re excited to be back for this year.”
As the festival is not ticketed, recording an exact number of attendees is difficult, Schubert said, but the Lexington Police Department and festival organizers estimated 20,000 attendees last year.
This year, with increased sponsorship numbers and upward-trending attendance in recent years, the group is hopeful that the event will continue growing.
The only planned road closure for this Saturday will be the event space along Oliver Lewis Way from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to a spokesperson from the Lexington Police Department.
The festival begins with a parade at 12:30 p.m.
The half-mile parade route will start at the intersection of Oliver Lewis Way and High Street. The guest grand marshal will be entertainer Adriana Fuentes, who was the first runner-up of the reality TV drag competition DragLatina, according to the event website.
Over 200 booths of vendors, sponsors, food and drinks will provide a variety of options for all attendees. Family-friendly and ADA accessible programming will be offered, along with activities like a drag story hour, face painting and bracelet making station.
“For all the attendees, we’re hoping that they see that Lexington is a space that’s safe and welcoming for everyone,” Schubert said. “We’ve got incredible support from our city government, from local businesses, from nonprofits, all of those areas. And then for folks in the LGBTQIA+ community, we want to create a safe space for everyone, a space for even for one day they can feel loved and accepted and welcomed and celebrated.”
A challenge in this year’s planning has been navigating rising costs, especially as many Pride Festivals across the nation saw losses in big sponsors last year. But Schubert said this was not the case in Lexington.
The support from the community has been crucial in absorbing rising costs and has remained steadfast in furthering the mission of the festival, Schubert said.
A main attraction this year is the performers set to take the stage. Two performance stages, sponsored by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and AVOL Kentucky, will run in tandem starting at 1:30 pm with live music, drag kings and queens, entertainment acts and more.
Concluding the night will be a performance by internationally recognized drag queens Lexi Love and Scarlet Envy on the main stage.
This year, the festival rented the University of Kentucky Parking Structure No.5 and will offer free parking. However, spots are first-come, first-serve with a maximum capacity of 2,359 spaces. There will again be a shuttle service running between the festival grounds and downtown throughout the day. More parking information can be found on the event website.
“I would say the power of community, the power of connection, the power of love, and that we are stronger when we all work together, and we’re stronger when we are a diverse, inclusive, and equitable society, and so that’s what we’re always trying to work for,” Schubert said. “We love that we’re able to do that for at least one day in the year.”