Grand Rapids Pride Festival

Thank you for an incredible Pride month of being naturally q***r 🦋🌿🌈✨

The Grand Rapids Pride team is entering into a weeklong period of rest and rejuvenation after a booked, busy, and beautiful Pride month. Our office is closed beginning July 1st, and will not be reopened until our staff returns on Monday, July 8th.

The business: Please check in with your group facilitator to know if your group will be running or not next week, or if there are any other changes that you should be aware of. You may also see our team posting on social media catching up to highlighting our entertainers, showcasing our vendors, or thanking our sponsors - these are scheduled, we are still offline and will not be answering emails, messages, or comments to honor our rest. See you in July!

The fun: We had an amazing month of celebrating with you! Our staff have been in awe from witnessing the newly blossoming and longstanding events across Grand Rapids, and are thankful for every invite we have had to participate in these community gatherings. Grand Rapids continues to grow itself as a pocket in the Midwest that celebrates all within the 2-SLGBTQ+ community. This year, we have witnessed new opportunities, collaborations, events, and gatherings take place, keeping our city as vibrant as ever - we can not wait to see how this continues to unfold for years to come.

We thank our staff, volunteers, sponsors, vendors, entertainers, and of course our patrons for helping us put on our busiest Pride Festival yet! We didn't let rain stop us, and we all had a blast from beginning to end with you. We couldn't have done this without any of you.

What was your favorite part of the 2024 Grand Rapids Pride Festival? What does Q***r is Natural mean to you?

Comment below!

🌈🦋Performance Announcement: Zeal Aerial Fitness 🌿💮 ***rIsNatural

Zeal Aerial Fitness is an inclusive community that encourages authenticity by bravely embracing challenges through building a relationship with alternative fitness. At Zeal, they value community, acceptance, self-love, fun, and joyful movement. Zeal offers classes in pole, silks, lyra, hammock, and bungee, as well as grounded classes like yoga, flexibility, and conditioning. Lita Spikes, Emily, Hannah and Ellie will be performing!

Grand Rapids Pride Festival will be taking over Calder Plaza TOMORROW for its 36th year on June 22nd, 2024! This year at the Grand Rapids Pride Center's largest fundraiser, we lean towards movements that represent our strides towards freedom and push the needle closer to liberation.

[Image Description: The Grand Rapids Pride Festival entertainer border frames the Zeal Aerial Fitness logo, with four individual photos of each performer following. The pink frame details information above the event: Saturday 6/22, 12PM - 10PM, all ages, Calder Plaza on Ottawa Ave. There is an illustrated disco ball at the bottom of the graphic.]

🌈🦋Performance Announcement: Drag is Art LLC 🌿💮 ***rIsNatural

Drag Is Art LLC is a premier, all-inclusive drag production and entertainment company based in the Midwest, dedicated to celebrating the vibrant and diverse art of drag. Founded on the principles of creativity, inclusivity, and empowerment, Drag Is Art LLC strives to provide top-tier entertainment that highlights the unique talents of drag performers from all walks of life.

Hosted by Miss Moscato, with performances by Felix, Ryder Hard, Savannah H. Williams, Scarlette H. Williams.

Grand Rapids Pride Festival will be taking over Calder Plaza for its 36th year on June 22nd, 2024! This year at the Grand Rapids Pride Center's largest fundraiser, we lean towards movements that represent our strides towards freedom and push the needle closer to liberation.

[Image Description: The Grand Rapids Pride Festival entertainer border frames a poster of the five entertainers of Drag is Art LLC, with five individual photos of each performer following. The pink frame details information above the event: Saturday 6/22, 12PM - 10PM, all ages, Calder Plaza on Ottawa Ave. There is an illustrated disco ball at the bottom of the graphic.]

🌈🦋Performance Announcement: K Voice Studio 🌿💮 ***rIsNatural

K Voice Studio's mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for voice-users of any background and experience level to play with their voice and discover their unique abilities. Eli Purnell, Allison Tousley, Oliver Taylor, Wren Johnston, Gabrielle Lee, Vee Kohlenberger, Gabby Zienstra, Leslie Boker join Kels Rezmer for an unforgettable performance!

Grand Rapids Pride Festival will be taking over Calder Plaza for its 36th year on June 22nd, 2024! This year at the Grand Rapids Pride Center's largest fundraiser, we lean towards movements that represent our strides towards freedom and push the needle closer to liberation.

[Image Description: The Grand Rapids Pride Festival entertainer border frames K Voice Studio's logo. The pink frame details information above the event: Saturday 6/22, 12PM - 10PM, all ages, Calder Plaza on Ottawa Ave. There is an illustrated disco ball at the bottom of the graphic.]

You've been asking, and we got it for you! Here's your look at this Saturday's entertainment schedule for the Grand Rapids Pride Festival. 🪩

This Pride month has been booked and busy for our team, but stick around this week as we highlight each and every performer gracing our stage this weekend. We'll be sure to platform all of them so you can be in the know about the incredible talent we have in our local communities.

The Grand Rapids Pride Festival takes place from 12PM - 10PM on Saturday, June 22nd at Calder Plaza. We're asking "what does Q***r is Natural?" means to you, and hope you'll join us in being the rainbow amidst all the storms 🌈

[Image Description: Three images of the Grand Rapids Pride Festival entertainment schedule. The green border is titled "Grand Rapids Pride Festival 2024" and notes details of the event. "Saturday, 06/22, 12PM - 10PM, Calder Plaza on Ottawa Ave."

12:00PM Opening Ceremony ft. Southern Strait
12:20PM DeeDee Chaunte
12:30PM K Voice Studio
1:05PM Drag is Art LLC
2:00PM Zeal Aerial Fitness
2:30PM Charissa Huang/ Peter Kulas-Dominguez
2:40PM Giza Was Here
2:55PM Luz De La Rica
3:10PM BAM Talent
3:35PM Sydney Smith
3:45PM Mark Totten
3:50PM Metamorphosis (Independent Drag Set)
4:25PM MI LGBTQ+ Commission
4:30PM Mamser
4:40PM Nicko da Great
5:00PM Werkout Plan - DJ Set
5:45PM Beauty Beyond Drag
6:40PM Baddie Brookes
7:30PM Rumors Night Club
8:10PM The Chroma Experience
9:05PM Headliner: BIG FREEDIA
9:50PM Closing Ceremony

🌈🦋Performer Announcement: BEAUTY BEYOND DRAG PRODUCTIONS 🌿💮 ***rIsNatural

Beauty Beyond Drag Productions (BBD) is your premiere all-inclusive drag connection serving West Michigan and surrounding areas since 2018. A diverse group of various entertainers from all walks of life, Beauty Beyond Drag's primary purpose is to raise awareness for causes that are close to the heart of our community while giving drag entertainers the opportunity to shine in the spotlight. Beauty Beyond Drag Productions is a family owned local business, with mother-son power duo Sue Haas and Bradley Haas as leading co-directors.

In 2023 alone, Beauty Beyond Drag Productions booked 133 entertainer spots and performed for 31 crowds, including 4 Pride Festivals across West Michigan. This will be BBD's fourth year performing at Grand Rapids Pride Festival. This year, they are bringing a packed cast with nine entertainers from across West Michigan, all who have contributed to their mission to bring the art of drag to new and unexpected heights.

Cast: Cherry Poppins (Host), La Reine Divine (Co-Host), BittaSweet, Benjamin Violet, B.R.I.T., Vivienne Vice, Countess Hexen, Katrina Tiki, The Petty Divine

Grand Rapids Pride Festival will be taking over Calder Plaza for its 36th year on June 22nd, 2024! This year at the Grand Rapids Pride Center's largest fundraiser, we lean towards movements that represent our strides towards freedom and push the needle closer to liberation.

There's still time to sign up to be a volunteer! Click here to register: https://grpride.org/pride-festival/pride-fest-volunteer-registration/

[Image Description: The Grand Rapids Pride Festival entertainer border frames the Beauty Beyond Drag Productions poster that includes all drag performers listed above. The pink frame details information above the event: Saturday 6/22, 12PM - 10PM, all ages, Calder Plaza on Ottawa Ave. There is an illustrated disco ball at the bottom of the graphic.]

THANK YOU, GRAND RAPIDS!

We asked for help with some basic and essential needs for our community care closets, and you sure delivered 🤩🤩

If you're looking to help support GRPC, we are still in need of the following NEW/UNOPENED items:

🧼Black hair & skin care products (Name brand only please. Suggestions: Shea Moisture, Mielle, Aunt Jackie’s, Camille Rose, Carol’s Daughter, Cantù, Mixed Chicks, As I Am!)
🩲Boxers, boxer briefs, & underwear - various sizes/genders
🧦Socks that can withstand winter & walking
🏳️‍⚧️Binders - medium, xl, 2x, 3x, 4x AND BEYOND
👁️Contact lens solution

Items can be dropped off at GRPC during business hours, or you can select items from our Amazon Wishlist to be shipped directly to us. Check the link in our bio for more information!

[Image Description]: A grey background with salmon-colored corners. The text reads, "Thank you for your support." There are two photos, one of new supplies for our closets including binders, shampoos, socks, contact solutions, and more. The second photo shows a stack of boxes and packages that were delivered to GRPC.

Planning has already started for our 2024 Pride Festival 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Do you have a theme you want to see? Scan the QR or click the link in our bio to complete the suggestion form!

BAM (Black Art Matters) Talent is a professional theatrical foundation created to enrich, inspire and enable Black, Q***r & Underrepresented voices. We're ecstatic that they are bringing a sample of the vast amount of talent BAM has to offer, hosted by their Producing Artistic Director, Darius Colquitt! BAM Talent will grace our stage for three different sets; Q***r Moments in Musical Theatre, Poetry, and a comedy set. Swipe right to get familiar with their faces!

Check them out at Grand Rapids Pride Festival on June 17th at Calder Plaza! Don’t forget to sign up to volunteer at https://grpride.org/festival/grpfvolunteers

Image descriptions:
1) BAM Talent's logo overlays a rainbow background. The logo is of the raised fist within a circle with the words "enrich, inspire, enable" in the curvature. A ribbon lays across the logo with the text " ." The bottom banner reads "Pride Festival, Unapologetically Me 2023. BAM Talent. June 2017, 12PM-10PM, Calder Plaza, Grand Rapids."

2) On top of a rainbow background are the photos of five performers - MDA, Fatima, Donica, Khari, and Alexus. The text above their images reads "Q***r Moments in Musical Theatre," with their names written respectively underneath. The bottom banner reads, "Pride Festival, Unapologetically Me 2023," with other stylized brand icons.

3) On top of a rainbow background are the photos of two performers - Darius & Erica. The text above their images reads " Poetry," with their names written respectively underneath. The bottom banner reads, "Pride Festival, Unapologetically Me 2023," with other stylized brand icons.

4) On top of a rainbow background is the photo of comedian Madison. The text about their photo reads, "Comedy Set," with their name written respectively underneath. The bottom banner reads, "Pride Festival, Unapologetically Me 2023," with other stylized brand icons.

Our next performer announcement features the Brunchettes of MI Drag Brunch! This drag group is Michigan's original drag brunch, touring statewide at rotating venues. You may not be fed food for this set, but they'll definitely be serving us an experience to remember! MI Drag Brunch will be lighting up our stage at Grand Rapids Pride Festival on June 17th at Calder Plaza! Don’t forget to sign up to volunteer at https://grpride.org/festival/grpfvolunteers

Image description: Eight drag artists fashioned in black and iridescent gold outfits, posing in front of a gold fabric background. A banner runs across the bottom portion of the photo, reading "June 17, 12PM-10PM, Calder Plaza, Grand Rapids," on a yellow square background. A purple rectangle next to it reads, "MI Drag Brunch," with various stylized icons, as well as "Pride Festival" and "Unapologetically Me 2023" in boxes underneath.

Beauty Beyond Drag Productions is your premiere all-inclusive drag production based in Grand Rapids. They aim to be all-inclusive to individuals who may not usually find themselves given the chance to see the art of drag while also allowing drag artists to shine in the spotlight for a good cause.

We are anticipating dazzling performances by Beauty Beyond Drag on our stage at Grand Rapids Pride Festival on June 17th at Calder Plaza! Don’t forget to sign up to volunteer at https://grpride.org/festival/grpfvolunteers

Image description: Seven drag artists posing in various positions, wearing black and gold outfits and adorned in jewelry and headpieces. They stand before a black wall accented with gold frames sorted in a gallery wall. The frames are filled with plants and moss, juxtaposed with a bright, white brick wall intersecting it. A banner runs across the bottom portion of the photo, reading "June 17, 12PM-10PM, Calder Plaza, Grand Rapids," on a yellow square background. A purple rectangle next to it reads, "Beauty Beyond Drag," with various stylized icons, as well as "Pride Festival" and "Unapologetically Me 2023" in boxes underneath.

We are still looking for volunteers to help us make the Grand Rapids Pride Festival a success! Volunteer registration is still open - sign up now! We have a ton of shifts available, and all volunteers get a free festival t-shirt! What are you waiting for?

Sign up at https://grpride.org/festival/grpfvolunteers

Image description: A black background with green text that says “call for volunteers!” in the middle of the graphic. On the bottom half, white text reads “Grand Rapids Pride Festival. Unapologetically Me 2023.” The top right corner has various titles stylized in colors of yellow, blue, green, and purple, with a heart, three stars, the words “35 years,” and an eyeball icon, respectively, inside of the titles.

Join us at the Family Fun Zone at the Grand Rapids Pride Festival on June 17th, from 12-6 PM! Family Futures is bringing an exciting “Does It Sink or Float” game to engage curious young minds. Capture the joyful spirit of your child or their group in polaroid pictures, and decorate them together at the GR Children's Museum’s “Proud to be Portraits.” Thanks to Meijer, the fun continues with coloring pages, giant Jenga, and bean bag toss! We’ll have rock painting, chalkboard, and more!

Will we see you and your family at Calder Plaza? We hope you come and create lasting memories with your loved ones! Don’t forget we’re still accepting volunteers to help make Pride Festival a success. Sign up at the link in the bio, and you’ll receive a free t-shirt!

Image description: Black background with the words “family fun zone” stacked on top of each other. “Family” is colored green, “fun” is blue, and “zone” is purple. A rainbow bar separates the bottom third of the image, which has a white background and the logos of Family Futures, Meijer, and Grand Rapids Children’s Museum side by side. On the right side of the image, a yellow box reads “Unapologetically Me, 2023, Grand Rapids Pride Festival” in black text, with various icons stylized underneath it in two columns.

Pride Fest is coming soon - on June 17th this year, & one way to prepare for it is to consider talking with us about resources to help you in your journey to cut back on your smoking or va**ng. Grand Rapids Pride Fest is a smoke & v**e free zone.

Never fear, we are here to have that conversation with you, and connect you with tools and people who can assist you! Please come to our May 25 Health Equity in Action community event "Get Personal for Pride" 5:30-7:30pm. It's a drop-in event with dinner & all sorts of resources to help you get ready for Pride Fest, including an opportunity to talk to our Healthcare Coordinator, Aaminah Shakur (they/them), about how to cut back or quit smoking. Of course, you can email Aaminah at [email protected] any time or come into the office Monday-Friday 10-4 for information also. There will also be a booth at Pride Fest with resources.

Watch our social media for more information about what to expect at the May Health Equity in Action event as well as at Pride Fest. We hope to see you at both!

Image description: Text says, "Grand Rapids Pride Fest is a smoke & v**e free event" & below this are illustrations of a cigarette & a v**e, both with red circles & lines over them. Below them is the GRPC logo. This is all on a light grey background layered over a background of smoke.

Happy Tuesday!

We are still recruiting volunteers for this years Festival on June 17!! We have tons of opportunities and it’s a super fun event to volunteer at! 😉

All of our volunteers will be fed and will receive a pride festival volunteer t-shirt! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out.

Here is the link to sign up: https://www.eventeny.com/events/volunteer/?id=5150&type=public

Hope to see ya there!😎

Grand Rapids Pride Festival 2023 Application - Grand Rapids Pride Festival 2023 - Eventeny Eventeny was founded on the belief that managing large-scale events with hundreds of exhibitors, vendors, sponsors, and volunteers should not be stressful and burdensome. Our mission is to remove event organizers from being the 5th most stressful job in the world. That's why we built Eventeny and co...

Grand Rapids Pride Festival updated their website address.

Come join us for the festival!! Volunteer registration for Grand Rapids Pride Festival 2023 is officially OPEN! Sign up now. There are many shifts available! All volunteers get a free festival t-shirt! https://grpride.org/festival/grpfvolunteers

Image description: A white background with black text that states "Unapologetically Me 2023", in the middle of the graphic is text bracketed by 2 rainbow bars that reads "Volunteer Registration is now OPEN!!!" Underneath the rainbow bar is white text over a black background that says "Grand Rapids Pride Festival, June 17, 12pm - 10pm Calder Plaza".

**PRIDE MONTH EVENT ALERT**

The Grand Rapids Pride Center is very excited to partner with the West Michigan Whitecaps to bring you Pride Night on June 8th at LMCU Ballpark!

Come hang out with us and support our local baseball team. Tickets cost $25, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Grand Rapids Pride Center. The price of the $25 ticket also includes a Whitecaps Pride Night 2023 baseball cap!

Must purchase tickets through this link: https://fevo.me/whitecapspride2023

Image description: A white back with the Pride Whitecaps logo in the top left corner and a Whitecaps Pride Hat (white logo with a rainbow brim) in the middle of the page. The text reads: Pride Night, Thursday June 8th - 6:35pm. A portion of all tickets purchased through this link will go directly to the Grand Rapids Pride Center. Hat included in the $25 ticket package!

Grand Rapids Pride Festival updated their info in the about section.

Back for its 35th year, Grand Rapids Pride Festival is taking over Calder Plaza once again with this year's theme “Unapologetically Me, 2023!” Our focus is not only to support local businesses and artists, we also want to work to create a safe, open and inclusive environment for Grand Rapids community members to celebrate who they are! Stay tuned for more information about vendors and volunteers. As always you can also visit grpride.org/festival for more info!

Image description: A three-frame image where the top is a full rectangle of black background and header text that says, "Unapologetically Me 2023" with a rainbow-stylized star between the words. Below this, it says, "June 17, 2023 12pm - 10pm, Calder Plaza." The left lower panel is a turquoise background with primary text that says "See you at Pride" and below this is a yellow badge with text that says, "Free event." In the lower-left corner is a purple square with a yellow stylized star shape, and then a smaller square next to it with a small red heart in it. The lower right panel is a white background with the Grand Rapids Pride Festival logo centered with a rainbow triangle as the "dot" over the "I" in "Pride" and a rainbow spectrum circle above the logo that circles the words "35 Years". At the bottom of the panel is a rainbow spectrum stripe also.

1 WEEK LEFT FOR NOMINATIONS!!!

Nominations for our awards are still open but the deadline is fast approaching on October 7th at 11:59pm! So make sure you get those nominations in for your favorite LGBTQ+ folks and businesses that are integral to our community!

http://ow.ly/rGcr50KYG7x

Do you want to come see and celebrate these awesome folks who are nominated?!? Well our TICKET SALES ARE OPEN!!!

Our inaugural Prism Awards will be held on November 10th at 7pm at New Vintage Place! Tickets are only $40 for individuals and $70 for a group of 2!

For more information and to purchase tickets please go to: http://ow.ly/a1VQ50KYG7B

Image description: A multi-colored triangle in subdued tones of rainbow colors with the words "Prism Awards" in the center. Below the triangle it says, "Grand Rapids Pride Center". Emanating from the triangle are fractured lines in similar subdued rainbow tones.

We are very excited to announce our inaugural Prism Awards 2022 hosted by the Grand Rapids Pride Center! We are very grateful to each and every person who has supported GRPC over the years whether that be our founding friends, volunteers over the years, any one who has served on our board of directors, our first staff, and especially anyone who is currently working or volunteering for GRPC today! We want to acknowledge and celebrate our vast community and we want to do it with your help!

Do you know someone that works hard for the LGBTQ+ community but is never recognized? Have you ever found yourself wishing you could be nominated for an award but realizing most awards are very gendered? Well we created this awards ceremony with those goals in mind. Let's start nominating folks and/or businesses that deserve credit and recognition for all that they do for the LGBTQ+ community. Our nominations will be open until Sept. 30th so please share the link below and let's make it happen!

https://forms.gle/UUFjjHdDFncgZi3x7

Further details about the date, time, and location will be announced very shortly! Stay tuned to learn more!!! Also, if you are interested in potentially being on the awards selection committee please reach out to Jazz @ [email protected] or Lucy at [email protected]

Image description: A multi-colored triangle in subdued tones of rainbow colors with the words "Prism Awards" in the center. Below the triangle it says, "Grand Rapids Pride Center". Emanating from the triangle are fractured lines in similar subdued rainbow tones.

We want to send a huge shout out and thank you to our Community Ally Sponsor: Meijer who also was the primary sponsor of the Family Fun Zone along with Grand Rapids Children's Museum and Children's Advocacy Center of Kent County.

Here's what Meijer had to say about being a part of Pride: At Meijer, our purpose is to enrich lives in the communities we serve. Because we know the communities we serve are diverse, our inclusion is intentional and we are proud to support the Grand Rapids Pride Center. Happy Pride!

Image Description: A white background with the progress flag rainbow banner at the top and bottom with the Grand Rapids Pride Festival logo in the middle with the text "Community Ally Sponsor" in blue. Underneath the text is Meijer's logo.

Image description: A pale rainbow behind a lost and found box with a hat, a phone, and a wallet coming out of the box. Text reads, "Looking for something? Grand Rapids Pride Festival Lost & Found might have your stuff! Call 616-458-3511. Email [email protected]"

Happy day after Pride! Thank you all for coming and making it a day to remember!

Now for the not-so-fun part. We need help cleaning up the block and packing away all of our equipment so we can turn it back in.

We are asking for any one who is able to come out and help us clean up/pack up. We would love a group of volunteers but we are willing to pay $15/ hour to the first 30 people who come meet us at Calder to help us clean.

I will have you sign a form on-site so that I can pay folks.

We are meeting at Calder at 10am TODAY!

Image Description: A yellow and brown broom with yellow sparkles around it on a blue background with the text "Clean Up!" in white.

OMG!!! 1 day left until Pride Festival 2022!!!

We can't wait to see you tomorrow and get ready to have a good time!!! Please find out more about what to expect at Pride Fest by visiting our website and reading more about the day at https://grpride.org/what-to-expect-at-pride-fest/

Be sure to also check out the rest of our Pride Month events at https://grpride.org/pride-month-events/

Image Description: A black clock with text that reads "24 hours to go" on a white background with a large Grand Rapids Pride Festival logo to the right of the photo. There is a top and bottom border of progress flag colors.