New LGBTQ+ group forms to organize Pocatello Pride Festival
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POCATELLO — An LGBTQ+ pride festival is returning to the Gate City this year, but a different group is organizing it.
Gate City Pride was organized when word spread no one was planning a pride event in Pocatello in 2024. The organizers were concerned about how not having a pride event would affect people, particularly young adults who don’t have “many spaces to be amongst their community.”
“(They) wouldn’t have a reminder this year that they are in fact not alone and that there are other people out there who are not just willing but excited to stand with them,” said Angela Hollingsworth, president of Gate City Pride. “I think it would have made a lot of young people feel a lot more alone.”
The group who planned the last two pride festivals in Pocatello was Southeastern Idaho Pride. However, due to some members having to step away and others experiencing medical issues, that group wasn’t able to take up the task of planning this year.
Gate City Pride’s event — Pocatello Pride — will be held on Saturday, June 29 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Lookout Point, 426 West Lewis Street.
One of the first things the organizers did was ensure that proper security measures were taken for attendees to feel safe at the event. Gate City Pride has contracted Trident Security to protect the festival.
There will also be people at the event to create an umbrella wall to provide attendees with a layer of “comfort and security.”
“If it doesn’t feel as approachable to tell security about a concern, the umbrellas are right there. They’re members of the community and happy to help with whatever you need,” Hollingsworth said.
The organizers at Gate City Pride set out to make this an event focused on community building. They planned the event with suggestions in mind.
“Do you have a wish list item? Is there something you always wanted to see at your local pride, but haven’t yet? And then if it was even at all possible, we started trying to do that thing,” Hollingsworth said.
Some of these wish list items include a communal art project, a pick-a-book picnic and a “judgment free conversation booth.” This booth will have a group of adults from the LGBTQ+ community available to answer questions from any member of the public looking to learn more.
“Maybe you have a kid or a relative that just came out to you and you aren’t sure what it means and you have a lot of questions,” Hollingsworth said. “You can go to this booth and not have to worry about knowing how to say something and have a conversation with an adult who possibly has been through the experience your loved one is having, or maybe has been a parent whose kid came out to them.”
Gate City Pride hopes having this booth will lead to positive conversations and more people in the community having better coming out stories.
The pick-a-book picnic will allow families to choose a book and use a blanket to sit in the grass and read together. Once finished, they return that book and can select another book to take home for free.
There will be a number of different performers, including both drag queens and kings and local bands including 4 of a Kind, Loot and Jay Hurley.
For people looking for a bite to eat, they can get a wood-fired pizza from Braise•Zen Pizza, a variety of lemonades from Lemon Smashers or pulled pork and dutch-oven cobblers from We Got This.
For people who haven’t been to a pride event, Gate City Pride wants the festival to be approachable.
“As long as you’re genuinely well-intentioned and just want to see for yourself instead of believing some things you’ve heard or seen said elsewhere, you’ll be very welcome,” Hollingsworth said.