LONGWOOD, Fla. —
Every year, Come Out With Pride takes a colorful parade through the streets of downtown Orlando. While the parade lasts a couple of hours, the work that goes into the floats you see can take weeks. Some of that work happens inside the workshop at Sir Speedy in Longwood.
Here, the sounds of industrial machines and printers fill the room. Raysa Estevez and her father create the panels you will see adorning the official Pride parade float.
“It’s pretty crazy for me because since I was 18, I’ve been going to the festivals and being the one on the sidelines,” Estevez said. “Now, I’m on the team with them and helping them and being a part of it.”
Since 2022, Estevez and her team have been some of the volunteers spearheading the float. They give input and print the designs in the workshop, cutting them into the perfect shapes and sizes. And the morning of the parade, they’ll assemble the float. While designing, printing, and assembling are their business and livelihood, bringing the bright colors and themes to life becomes a labor of love.
“Giving back and being part of the community is very important to me,” Estevez said. “Representation matters. If we don’t have that in our community and in our spaces… you feel like you’re left out of something.”
The theme for this year’s parade is “feel the beat.” Organizers say it represents the pulse of the community and people coming together for the march. That act of coming together — and the feelings that come with it — are what Estevez hopes people take away.
“It’s a very different thing to see your crowd and see the amount of people that are there to celebrate something, and we’re there for a purpose.”