This year, the Grand Rapids Pride Festival is expected to be bigger than ever with 150 vendors and over 200 volunteers. The theme for the event this year is “Proud To Be”, an opportunity says Tommy Allen, board president of the Grand Rapids Pride Center, to set the tone for the event around inclusion.
“A lot of people when we talk about LGBTQ+, we often think of white people that’s just a default in society and we know that that’s not true so we really wanted to change that this year and show that it really is a very diverse group of people – in fact its all of us.”
The event will feature many family friendly activities throughout the day, and instead of having a DJ in the afternoon, local musicians and spoken word artists will be performing on the local highlights stage.
“A wide range of very diverse, queer LGBTQ artists in our area. So whether that be playing music, poetry, spoken word or anything like that.”
That’s Thomas Pierce, executive Director of the Grand Rapids Pride Center who says the main attraction for this year’s Pride Festival will be Mya, Grammy Award Winning Artist.
The festival will take place at Calder Plaza beginning at 12pm on Saturday. Tickets for the festival are $8.00 for General Admission and $50 for VIP. Children 12 years old and under can enter for free. For those who are unable to afford the entrance fee they can reach out to the Grand Rapids Pride Center for a free ticket.
Michelle Jokisch Polo, WGVU News.
