Good times at Pride Fest

CELINA - It was all rainbows and smiles as far as the eye could see at the second annual Pride Festival held at Bryson Park District.

The event coincides with Pride Month, which takes place in June. It follows last year's first-ever LGBTQ pride march in Mercer County. About 300 people attended the march in 2020, which was held at Lakeshore Park. However, this year's event was bigger and better than ever, according to organizers and attendees.

Last year's event was organized in about a month, said Small Town Pride president Kyle Bruce, 21, and only featured a handful of speakers and a march around Celina.

This time around, the event was turned into a full-day festival filled with speakers, testimonials, musical acts and vendors. Organizer Elly Bruce, 19, said the nonprofit had about a year to plan things out, which helped with organization and acquiring more vendors and entertainment.

Saturday's festival drew hundreds more attendees than the 2020 event, Elly Bruce said. The Facebook event Small Town Pride created for the festival had over 800 people respond they were either interested or planned to attend.

On Saturday afternoon, attendees were treated to a drag queen show with performers hailing from Columbus and the surrounding area. Emcee Redd Velvet, Columbus, said the group was happy to perform at such a unique event in a small town.

Bruce said organizers had hoped to hold a drag show, but didn't have the funding available. Yet the queens offered to make the journey out to Celina to perform for free, collecting only tips from viewers as compensation.

As the queens performed to songs by pop icons such as Lady Gaga, Lizzo and Adele, giddy teens could be heard giggling with excitement and shouting out to the performers to grab their attention.

For Wilbur Clouser, 16, the event was his first. Having never attended an event for Pride month, the shy teen said he enjoyed everything about the festival.

"This is my first pride," he said. "I'm feeling amazing. This is the best day of my life."

Friend Nex Laber, 15, attended the event in 2020. This year's festival was full of food and drew a bigger crowd than last year, Laber said, and she was happy to see many people attend.

"There's people coming from Columbus, Lima, even people coming from next door states," she said. "It's so cool to see a bunch of other people who know the same stuff as you and relate to."

Ayanna Trammell, 25, made the trek from Columbus for Saturday's festival after Columbus-area organizations had largely canceled Pride Month events due to COVID-19.

"It's really cool that Celina has a Pride event," Trammell said. "And I was surprised that there was a drag show, that was so fun."

Natasha Rickard, Montezuma, brought her two children to the event. Having grown up in Mercer County, Rickard said she was a bit nervous at first to attend the festival. However, she said she was pleasantly surprised at how well the day had gone.

"It feels big and welcome, and I feel safe," she said. "It really turned into a family event."

However, the festival wasn't all rainbows and sunshine. Earlier in the morning a small group of religious counter protesters arrived, handing out "Pride surveys" with Small Town Pride's logo on it, asking for attendees personal contact information and asking what God would think about the event, Elly Bruce said.

While some people who are religious may not approve or care for LGBTQ people or their allies, Elly Bruce said one of her favorite parts of the day was First Presbyterian Church's booth at the festival.

Although not religious herself, Elly Bruce said she understands that many people grapple with their gender and sexual identity while also trying to figure out their place in religion. Having a church present to represent religion was amazing to see, she said.

"I grew up watching my brother (Kyle Bruce) struggle, feeling like he's alone and feeling like there's no one around here who's the same as him," she said. "I feel like showing the youth that they're not the only ones maybe feeling confused or questioning or different than everybody else, I feel like that's a big thing that's been missing in the community."

For more information on Small Town Pride, visit the group's Facebook Page at Small Town Pride - Celina.