INDIANAPOLIS — Indy Pride has planned 20 events for LGBTQ+ Hoosiers since January with the biggest being Saturday between the parade and the festival which will take place at Military Park.
The parade will begin at 10 am at the Corner of Mass Ave and College — an estimated 60,000 were in attendance last year.
Then at 1, the festival will begin at military park and will run until 11 pm. That’s 12 hours of fun!
There will be three stages of performances.
Main stage will have artists like Saucy Santana and Deborah Cox .. then a DJ stage and then a community zone stage which is family friendly.
MORE | 2023 Indy Pride Festival performers announced (wrtv.com)
The performances on that stage will be PG rated. Parents are encouraged to bring their children.
“I want people to know that this is a festival! It’s fun! Come out! It’s so much fun. I also want to encourage people to buy your tickets in advance. The lines can get kinda long at the box office so go to our website Indypride.org and purchase your ticket today,” Shelly Snider, Indy Pride Executive Director said.
They plan events for 100,000 people but only have 3 full time staff on their team. They’re always looking for volunteers .. if you’re interested go to Indypride.org
And while the weekend will be filled with lots of fun … something on a lot of people’s minds is safety and security.
Snider says this year there will be a clear bag policy put in place. That means If you’re coming to the festival, make sure you’re packing the appropriate gear.
This year, the volunteers have gone through a training program called “Stop the Bleed.” That’s in case something catastrophic or violent happens, staff is prepared to take care of the community.
“With all the hate that is out there towards the LGBTQ+ community, we know, it’s more important than ever to keep our community safe so we’ve increased our security measures including adding more staff that are specifically geared towards making sure we are safe,” Snider said.
In addition to increasing security… IMPD will be present both during the parade and the festival this year.
Snider says she acknowledges that police presence at pride can be a bit triggering for some folks in the community.
WRTV asked if officers will be in uniform during the event … we’re told some will .. but they’re encouraged to wear a “soft uniform” which is a t-shirt that has rainbow on it and shorts.
Organizers anticipate the majority of the police presence during pride will actually be officers who are LGBTQ+
