A diverse group of people is always expected to show up at Circle City Indy Pride, from families with children to the members of Indiana Youth Group to the Indy Pride Bag Ladies, an HIV/AIDS fundraising organization founded in 1981. Each year breaks records in the amount of people and vendors who attend, and this year was no exception.
Festivities took place June 7-14. Along with the usual activities such as Pet Pride, Girl Pride, Pride Skate, a softball game, community picnic and the Rainbow 5K Run/Walk, there were the new additions of a Pride Bowl, Diversity Night with Indiana Fever and a Pride Concert with the Indianapolis Mens' Chorus.
The Cadillac Pride Barbie Parade was held June 14 and featured four grand marshals. Coburn "Coby" Palmer is a member of Indy Pride Bag Ladies who helped organized Indy's first fundraiser for HIV/AIDS. Other grand marshals were Layshia Clarendon of Indiana Fever, Megan Robertson of Freedom Indiana and Rick Sutton of Indiana Equality Action.
Freedom Indiana and Indiana Equality Action are two organizations which led the battle to repeal HJR-6 ( also known as HJR-3 ), which would have put an amendment in the Indiana constitution forever banning gay marriage. ( In spite of the repeal, it is still not legal for gay couples to wed in Indiana. )
The Pride Festival had more than 100 vendors, and the Dekuyper Main Stage featured all kinds of entertainment, including headliner Luciana. Local acts had the chance to submit videos for their chance to perform on stage. In spite of the promise of three stages, pride attendees reported only one, but said they still enjoyed the entertainment. Straight ally Candace Hutchens, 21, attended pride for the first time this year. She said, "It was really fun. Me and my sister got our picture taken with a drag queen." 35-year-old Bobbi Shoemaker attended her 5th Indy pride this year. "I like checking out the vendor booths and I brought new people with me."
One issue that may need resolved next year due to the high turnout is parking. More than 30 cars were towed for parking at businesses that were closed for the day.
For more information about Indy Pride, go to www.circlecityinpride.org .
There is still one more major pride event to come this summer in Indiana. Fort Wayne's 18th Pride will be held July 25-26 ( www.fwpride.org ). There is a smaller turnout at Fort Wayne than Indyusually 8,000 compared to Indy's estimated 80,000-plusand it is located 164 miles from Chicago for those in the Windy City area who may wish to attend.
Events will kick off July 23 with a Pride Comedy Night at Snickers Comedy Club. The festival will be held at Headwaters Park, and will include a Pride March on the morning of July 26. There will also be Pride Night with the Tincaps, the local Minor League Baseball Team, on Monday July 27, and attendees are encouraged to wear red.