The Louisville Pride Foundation recently announced the dates on which several of its most popular events, including the Louisville Pride Festival, will return this year.
The Louisville Pride Festival (not to be confused with the Kentuckiana Pride Festival at Waterfront Park) will return to Bardstown Road on Saturday, September 9. The free street fair will feature a drag show with local and regional performers, 150 vendor booths, a family zone, and more.
This year’s festival theme is “There’s No Place Like Home.”
“We wanted to build on the idea of ‘home’ that resonated so much with people last year, and we chose this theme because it speaks to how your chosen family can keep you safe no matter how dark the storm looks outside,” said Louisville Pride Foundation executive director Mike Slaton in a press release. “It’s also an affirmation and a statement of resistance. This is our home. And no matter what unconstitutional laws come out of Frankfort, no one can take it away from us.”
Slaton also said in the press release, “We have all seen the increased targeting of drag performance by cynical politicians across the country. Our response is that the Louisville Pride Festival is going to feature the biggest and best damn drag show the Commonwealth of Kentucky has ever seen. And it will be in the middle of Bardstown Road on September 9th. The LGBTQ community will never back down in the face of bigotry.”
Though the Louisville Pride Festival is only one day, the organization’s Pride events will also include a “multi-day, multi-event extravaganza” that will involve Pride Nights with the Louisville Bats and Racing Louisville, a film series, a comedy show, and other events that will be announced in the future.
A few other big Pride events will return this year as well: The 2023 Louisville Pride 5K will start at 9 a.m. on Sunday, June 11, at Cherokee Park.
The family-friendly Kentucky Derby Festival Sunday Funday Drag Show will take place at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 30, as part of Fest-A-Ville at Waterfront Park. Admission is free to anyone with a Pegasus Pin. This year’s performers will include Vic León, Shante’, Evelyn Salt, and QUASI, plus hostess Syimone.
