ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 St. Pete Pride\u2019s annual festival and parade brought hundreds of thousands of people to St. Petersburg over the weekend. The event is Florida\u2019s largest Pride festival.<\/p>\n
The parade filled the city with floats, community groups and local organizations. Organizers said turnout was expected to be larger than usual because Tampa Pride was not held this year, as well as the current political and economic climate.<\/p>\n
Trent Brock, vice president of St. Pete Pride, said the event gives people a visible sense of community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s an opportunity for everyone to see that there are other people just like themselves out here in the community,\u201d Brock said. \u201cWe have so many different organizations and businesses participating in the parade, and it’s just a great way to show that these organizations are supporting the LGBTQ+ community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Bob Wallace, one of this year\u2019s grand marshals, said he has attended all 24 St. Pete Pride parades. Wallace has a family practice in St. Petersburg and said he was one of the city\u2019s first HIV doctors. He now treats more than 500 transgender patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s just been a great opportunity to treat those less fortunate and those people who are disenfranchised,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cIt’s just really been hard watching what’s happening to our transgender sisters and brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n
SPCA Tampa Bay also took part in the parade with what its veterinary services manager described as the organization\u2019s biggest float yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re just proud to be an organization that welcomes folks from all sorts of backgrounds, and I think our team reflects that as well, so it’s just important for us to represent our community,\u201d said Sebastian Silva, veterinary services manager for SPCA Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
Brock said St. Pete Pride lost $200,000 in sponsors this year and had to rely on community support. Organizers asked everyone attending to bring $1 to help fund next year\u2019s festivities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat money will stay directly with St. Pete Pride and help support us as we gear up for our 25th anniversary in 2027,\u201d Brock said.<\/p>\n
Wallace said he hopes to return next year for his 25th St. Pete Pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an exciting crowd,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cIt’s great to be in the parade. I’ve had the chance to ride on floats and be a participant as an observer. So it’s just a great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pride celebration continues Sunday with the St. Pete Pride Sunday Street Fair in the Grand Central District. Organizers said tens of thousands of people are expected for entertainment, vendors, food and games from noon to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 St. Pete Pride\u2019s annual festival and parade brought hundreds of thousands of people to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[115,596,4253,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,1374,835],"class_list":["post-322169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-news","tag-pinellas-county","tag-pride-month","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-tyler-oneill","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}