Columbus Pride Festival organizers promised a larger gathering in Saturday’s second installment, and they delivered.
An estimated crowd of more than 3,500 people gathered along a crowded Fifth Street and the Bartholomew County Public Library Plaza downtown Saturday afternoon in support of the LGBTQ community and their family and friends.
And that was an hour before the drag show, last year’s most popular attraction, began.
Erin Bailey, now a student at Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis, launched the first Pride festival last April as her senior project at Columbus Signature Academy — New Tech High School. Regional, national and international media picked up the story of the event they saw as especially significant because the event was occurring in Vice President Mike Pence’s hometown.
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“I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who have been helping,” Bailey said from the stage near the event’s opening Saturday.
Bailey said last year in numerous interviews locally, nationally and internationally that part of her vision was showing people that Columbus was welcoming to all people, including people who are lesbian, bisexual, gay, transsexual and others.
On Saturday, the all-ages crowd was a mix of toddlers to retirees, and showed a great deal of diversity. And along Fifth Street, a common greeting of “Happy Pride” rang out among people decked in the Pride rainbow logo on everything from caps to capes and sun-visors to shoelaces. Many festival-goers sported rainbow face paint.
During the event, various women linked to Free Mom Hugs groups which work to show love and affirmation to LGBTQ people doled out parental-style affection.
Kimberly Hoffman was among those moms, mingling among the crowd with a handmade sign reading “Free Mom Hugs.” She held tight to people ranging from a female teen draped in a Pride flag to a mother who lost a son last year.
“I just wanted to show people love, because everybody needs to feel loved,” Hoffman said, who acknowledged the hugs were emotional. “Unfortunately, sometimes families are not embracing people from the Pride community.”
Julie Pruitt can relate. Her 29-year-old daughter married her same-sex partner in October. Pruitt staffed a booth — one of 53 at the event, nearly double the number for last year — for a Christian-oriented group called Freed Hearts dedicated to encouraging parents to love children who are gay. Pruitt also represented a group called Serendipitydodah, an organization with a frequently Christian emphasis on moms and others showing love to LGBTQ people.
Pruitt distributed buttons that read, “Be Careful Who You Hate; It Could Be Someone You Love.”
At least six local churches manned booths, from St. Paul’s Episcopal to First Presbyterian. At the First United Methodist booth, the Rev. Howard Boles sported a Pride-oriented rainbow stole.
Jacob Balash with Spencer Pride Inc. in Spencer, Indiana, basked in what some referred to as a love-fest at the festival.
“There’s a real, growing hunger for this (in Indiana),” Balash said. “In the face of hate, these festivals are a good way to stand up and say, ‘We’re not going to do that. We’re going to show love.’”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”By the numbers” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
2
Number of years for the event
4
Number of musical acts
53
Number of booths/vendors
3,500+
Estimated attendance
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