First in-person Kalamazoo Pride Festival in Three Years Draws Hundreds to Arcadia Creek
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A sea of rainbows filled Arcadia Creek Festival Place Friday for the first in-person Kalamazoo Pride Festival since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
More than 8,000 people are expected over the two-day festival. Hundreds waited in lines that stretched around Arcadia Creek Festival Place to get inside Friday.
"There are not a lot of places where people, especially underage people, can really feel welcome in a community," said Star Honrich. "Especially being in high school, it’s basically a warzone."
Friday's festivities included a DJ, dancers from Western Michigan University, and a drag competition.
It was the first time the LBGTQ+ community had been able to gather at Kalamazoo Pride since 2019, and many said they were proud to celebrate in a space that breathed love and acceptance.
"This isn’t something that you would’ve seen years ago, this isn’t something that would’ve been socially acceptable,” said Evelyn Botaya.
Crowds said they attended to support each other, regardless of their age or who they chose to love.
Hundreds flocked to Arcadia Creek Festival Place on June 3, 2022 for the first in-person Kalamazoo Pride Festival since 2019. (WWMT)
"It’s to commemorate how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go,” said Honrich.
It's crucial to have a space for the LGBTQ+ community to feel safe, according to Tracy Hall, interim executive director for OutFront Kalamazoo.
"We’re super glad to be back here, to be together and share space, we haven’t been able, in a long time,” said Hall.
It's even more crucial now as states around the U.S. pass laws around gender identity and sexual orientation.
"We have lots of different state laws that are trying to be implemented," said Grace Gheen, OutFront Kalamazoo Communications Director. "To ban talking about being gay, and whether or not you will have gender health services for trans youth, which is completely ridiculous."
People who identified as man, woman, or trans, so they were at Kalamazoo Pride, to raise their visibility and fight for LGBTQ+ equity.
"Those of you that are afraid to come out and haven’t come out yet and you really want to, we're here for you,” said Gheen.
Kalamazoo Pride is OutFront Kalamazoo's largest fundraiser, according to Hall. The group's long-term transitional home for LGBTQ+ youth is set to open in the fall.
The festival continues on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Kalamazoo Pride is the second-largest pride festival in Michigan after the one in Detroit.
