Feel the love at Wichita’s "Color Me Pride"

(Wichita, KS) - With a full week of LGBT-related events planned, Wichita Pride, Inc. is hosting its annual PrideFest beginning Friday, Sept. 19 through Sunday, Sept. 28, said Wichita Pride Communications Director Renee Popovich.

Popovich said the theme for PrideFest 2014 is Color Me Pride and the Wichita townspeople already appear to be accomplishing just that. For the first time ever, she said, PrideFest 2014 is featured on the event calendar found at www.gowichita.com, the Go Wichita Convention and Visitor’s Bureau website.

“This is the first year we’re featured on the ‘Go Wichita’ event calendar,” Popovich said. “It’s a pretty big deal to be featured for once, so we’re super excited about that.”

Sponsors of the event include The Gayly at the Platinum level, the ICT Roller Girls, and AARP Kansas. In addition, Popovich mentioned that Cargill, a national food production company, is a silver sponsor. “They’ve really stepped up to the plate — they’re super involved — and we’re very excited to have them.”

Cargill is donating 300 hamburger patties to PrideFest 2014’s third annual family cookout from 11am to 3pm Saturday, Sept. 20, at OJ Watson Park, located at 3022 S McLean Blvd, Popovich said.

Along with the family cookout, she said, PrideFest 2014 will feature a bowling night, a block party, a parade, a party bus and several onstage performers. A full list of events can be found at www.wichitapride.org.

A $10 PrideFest button can be purchased to access the cookout and other events throughout the week, she said. Without the button, there is a small entrance fee for each event.

Popovich said she hopes Color Me Pride will remain a theme throughout Wichita even after PrideFest 2014.

“One of the things about the LGBT community is that we don’t discriminate,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re ‘one of us’ - you’re human, which makes you one of us.”

“We don’t care what color you are, what shape you are, what your lifestyle choices are, what your gender identity is - it makes no matter,” she said. “Have pride in who you are, how you present yourself, in your community, your country and your state.”

Wichita Pride President Evan Shaheen agrees. “Pride - at its core - will always be about equality for all,” Shaheen said. “But now, that includes far more than the LGBT community - it now includes all those who are different and those who support equal rights.

“Pride has become a beacon to all those who feel different, who feel that they have no place to go, and who finally feel they now have a place in the world where they belong,” he said.

“Pride is no longer just about the LGBT community and its fight for equality, but it is about the continuing struggle all minorities feel and the fight for human rights and equality for all - this is what we are fighting for; this what we are ultimately looking to achieve.”

For more information about Wichita PrideFest 2014, to purchase PrideFest 2014 buttons, become a sponsor or see a full list of events and times, visit www.wichitapride.org.

by Siali Siaosi, Journalism Intern

The Gayly – September 14, 2014 @ 2:45pm