"Pride returns to Winston-Salem with a new theme for this year’s festival - No Place Like Home. “No Place Like Home” came out on the heels of Winston-Salem’s Centennial year celebration, and with a small spin of The Wizard of Oz and their 25th Anniversary. The Wizard of Oz has always held a strong iconic place in gay culture. However, we wanted to capitalize on the celebration of all that Winston-Salem has to offer, and we incorporated iconic images of downtown Winston-Salem into this year’s event logo. We are traditionally one of the last Pride celebrations throughout the year on the East Coast and we wanted to drive the point to BRING IT BACK HOME!
Sponsored by Pride Winston-Salem, this year’s festival again features a Kickoff - Sponsor Appreciation reception on Friday October 17th at The Piedmont Club beginning at 7pm. There will be a Jazz Band, hors d'oeuvres, silent auction, Live Art Installation by Cheryl Lipstreu, who is quickly making a name for herself in the art world. Tickets for the event are $35 in advance and $50 at the door. As always our festival, food truck rodeo, and Parade will be Free to the public, however we have expanded to a 2 day event. Saturday’s festival area will again be in the Trade Street Arts District and will open at 10AM with 2 Stages of Live Entertainment starting at Noon. Saturday night, Pride Winston-Salem would like to invite you to join us at The Millenium Center - Speakeasy for the Official After Party with 3 DJs including Ultra Naté. Tickets can be purchased in advance at pridews.org for $15 or $20 at the door which opens at 9pm. This year we are excited to move the parade to Sunday. We will begin with a Drag Brunch Crawl at 11AM from select restaurants along 4th, 5th, and Trade St. and will follow with the Pride Winston-Salem “No Place Like Home” Parade at 2pm along 4th St.
This year’s Pride Winston-Salem Grand Marshals are Tim Young, Mark Maxwell & Family. (separate bio attached) Pride Winston-Salem is honored to have this outstanding example of a loving family representing our community.
The Pride Winston-Salem Festival Zone is larger than ever with over 90 vendor booths - 2 Full Stages of Entertainment and a Dance area sponsored by Club Snap. Pride Winston-Salem is a family friendly event and we are expecting 10,000 attendees. We will again be hosting a Kids Zone with bounce houses, games and face painting. The Campaign for Southern Equality will be joining us this year with an on-site Free legal clinic. Volunteers will be on hand to assist FREE OF CHARGE with creating Healthcare POAs from 12pm-4pm. Executive Board member of Family Equality Council and author Tommy Starling will be a featured guest speaker and will read from his children’s book in the Kids Zone. Arts, crafts, pride merchandise and LGBTQ friendly businesses will all be represented. We will again be offering on-site rapid HIV testing. The LGBTQ community is blessed with strong support from our faith community and Pride is no exception with 14 faith traditions represented in our parade and vendor area. Pride Winston-Salem has again partnered with Finnigan’s Wake Irish Pub to offer alcohol sales. Finally, a Food Truck Rodeo will feed the masses. We have fourteen food trucks from all around the state, so come hungry.
Entertainment will be flowing from two stages from 12:00pm to 5:30pm. We will have three choirs, four live bands, spoken word performances, live vocalist and countless male and female impersonators mastering the art of illusion. Our featured illusionist will be the newly crowned Mr. Pride 2014 - Omega St. James and Miss Pride 2014 Kimora De-La Diva - . Our headliner, Ultra Naté (International Recording Artist/ House DJ ) will be performing at 2:00pm on the mainstage, and will be the featured DJ at the Official After Party at the Millenium Center. (Separate bio attached)
Pride Winston Salem would not be possible without the strong corporate, foundation and individual support that we have been afforded. Our Gold Level Corporate Sponsor is Hanesbrands Inc. & our Gold Level Media Sponsor is TimeWarner Cable. Our Silver Level Corporate Sponsors include: Adam Foundation, Novant Health, Walgreens, Wells Fargo, Cats & Spark Brand Inspiration, and our Bronze Level Corporate Sponsors include: Reynolds American, Aon, BB&T, BlueCross BlueShield of NC, C distinctive eyewear, Food Lion, Pepsico, PNC Bank & Club Snap. Pride Winston-Salem wishes to thank all our sponsors that have contributed to the growth and scope of this year’s event.
Pride History: In the early hours of the morning of June 28, 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village sparked the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Riots is the first well-known instance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rebellion against government-sponsored oppression of LGBT people in the United States. On the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the first Pride marches were held in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Pride events are now held around the world and throughout the year with events large and small in over eight cities in North Carolina alone.
Pride Winston-Salem History: Pride Winston-Salem grew out of Equality Winston-Salem, who organized Pride events in 2011 & 2012, and continued with the formation of our 501c3 of Pride Winston-Salem last year.. Pride Winston-Salem is grateful for the path forged by Equality Winston-Salem beginning in 2010. PRIDE Winston-Salem’s primary focus is on encouraging, empowering, promoting a positive image of the LGBTQ community.
For more information about Pride Winston-Salem, please visit: pridews.org
The following individuals are available for interviews:
Keith Hicks, President; Brent Morin, Vice-President/Parade Chair; Jerry Morin Vendor Chair
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Pride Winston-Salem is a 501c3 federally designated non-profit organization.
- A Press Release
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