Inside the fest, which closed down sections of Bancock Street and Broadway surrounding the park to support the estimated 500,000 people who attend every year, people browsed art, clothing and other merchandise in the Gayborhood Market, visited booths for resources and information, bought snacks and danced around a stage blasting upbeat music.
Produced by The Center on Colfax, PrideFest is a major fundraiser for the LGBTQ+ community resource center. While the festival, once a grassroots celebration of queer resistance and joy, has been criticized for its corporatized feel in recent years, plenty of queer joy was still present as people presented authentically to their gender expressions, laughed with their friends in the shade of the trees, complimented each other's outfits, and danced to queer anthems like Chappell Roan's "HOT TO GO!"
Center on Colfax CEO Kim Salvaggio noted in a recent column for Westword that 83 percent of every dollar goes into services for the community. "These include free mental-health counseling, support groups for transgender and gender diverse people, youth programming, events for older adults, and so much more," she said. "If the festival isn’t for you, we get that. But please know that The Center is here 365 days a year, offering free programming to anyone who needs it."
Saturday's event kicked off with a 5K before the festival, which boasts more than 250 exhibitors and thirty food vendors. The celebration continues Sunday, starting with the Vizzy Denver Parade at 9:30 a.m., when floats, marchers and music will lead thousands of spectators into Civic Center Park for day two of PrideFest. The parade is historically held on Colfax Avenue, but this year the route is different because of construction of the East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. The new parade step off will be at East 17th Avenue and Franklin Street, and the parade will continue down 17th before concluding at Lincoln Street by the park.
PrideFest at Civic Center Park continues until 6 p.m. Sunday. Here are some photos from the first day of the event:
A booth for the Parasol Patrol, an organization that aims to protect kids from hateful protesters at LGBTQ+ events.
Kristen Fiore
