Eliot Perez, Jacob Santiago-Perez and Juan Santiago at SWFL Pride. -STEPHANIE DAVIS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

I recently wrote that it’s officially festival season in Southwest Florida, and I couldn’t be happier. While I adore dressing up and getting my sparkle on, I also love throwing on a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops to listen to music, stand in food truck lines and sip cold White Claws.

But, even more than that, I love wearing a pink tutu, a sequined rainbow hat and rhinestone rainbow earrings – which meant that I fit right in at Pride Southwest Florida in downtown Fort Myers last Saturday afternoon. Actually, I was fairly lowkey compared to some of the seriously fabulous outfits I saw. There was plenty of glitter, color, unicorn horns, rainbow knee socks, purple hair, tiaras, fishnet stockings, and SO much more. The drag queens, especially the iconic Alyssa LeMay, totally stole the show, though, with fun, elaborate wigs and gorgeous gowns. Drag performers are strong, though. With a triple degree heat index and insane humidity, I truly thought I was going to meet my maker right there on First Street and enter the pearly gates in an extremely fluffy pink tutu. Not the queens, though – those girls didn’t even break a sweat wearing corsets, stockings, heels, layers of Maybelline and dancing up a storm on the outdoor stage in front of Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center. The good news about having Pride downtown for the first time is that it was so easy to duck into any of the restaurants and bars for a dose of air-conditioning and an ice-cold cocktail. There were vendors with tons of Pride merch, food trucks, cocktail stops and lots more.

Hugs from moms

One of my favorite things to see at Pride are all the sweet moms wearing their “Free Mom Hugs” t-shirts. So many folks in the gay community don’t have parents who accept them, so how awesome for them to get warm, loving, unconditional hugs from moms – there’s truly nothing like a big affectionate squeeze from a mama.

Everyone was spreading the love and an estimated 2,000 people showed up for the festivities. I don’t think I walked past a single soul who didn’t smile at me and say, “Happy Pride”.

Big kudos to Visuality, Inc. for organizing the event, the City of Fort Myers Police Department for keeping everything calm and happy, and all the fab folks who showed up and showed out for a truly joyous afternoon. Not only that, the party partied on with a rooftop dance soiree at the art center where guests kicked up their heels and kept the fun and frivolity going.

Friends and frivolity

The best part of the day was seeing SO many festive friends including Mayor Kevin Anderson, Juan Santiago of ArtFest Fort Myers, Jared Dunn and Amy Slobodzian of Fancy’s, Trine Alfero and Dianne Summers of Florida Rep, Jenny McWhinnie volunteering for the event, PR Maven Marilyn Santiago, Sadie Barbara of WINK-FM with filmmaker Victor Muriel, educators Warren Wright and Matthew Bracey, and the wonderful matriarch of the Southwest Florida gay community, Arlene Goldberg. It was a truly memorable day filled with love!

The summer fun continues

More festivals to come! The River District Alliance has a banging block party planned for Saturday, the 4th of July complete with fireworks, music, kids activities and lots of red, white, and blue fun!… Have you embraced Mahjong mania yet? July 16th is your chance, as Holiday House of Fort Myers raises funds with Christmas in July Merry Mahjong where mahjong instructor Liz Abbott will be on hand if you don’t know the difference between a crack and a bam (go to Holiday House of Fort Myers on Facebook for all the sign-up deets)… And for you body art lovers, make sure you’re at the Florida Gulf Coast Tattoo Expo the weekend of June 26th at Caloosa Sound Convention Center – hey, I know a guy who got his very first tattoo at 60 – it’s never too late!

Stephanie Davis is a recovering girl-about-town formerly known as the Downtown Diva. A nearly native Southwest Floridian, when she’s not photographing events for Florida Weekly, she’s perfectly content to stay at home binging Netflix with her husband and three cats, Tennessee, Lilibet, Jack, and Baby.