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From noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 28, downtown Big Rapids will host the Pride Big Rapids\u00a0Queen-Tennial Festival along Michigan Avenue. The fifth annual event will feature more than 70 vendors, family and children’s activities, food trucks and a lineup of entertainment and educational programming centered around this year’s theme, “Fearless and Free, Louder than Ever.” In this file photo, drag performer J.A.N.E. dances among attendees of the fourth annual Big Rapids Pride Festival.<\/p>\n
Pioneer photo\/Dylan Schwartz<\/p>\n
BIG RAPIDS \u2014 Pride Big Rapids will celebrate its fifth anniversary with new entertainment, community activities and a festival theme organizers say reflects challenges facing the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n
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From noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 28, downtown Big Rapids will host the Pride Big Rapids\u00a0Queen-Tennial Festival along Michigan Avenue between Elm and Pine streets.<\/p>\n
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The fifth annual event will feature more than 70 vendors, family and children’s activities, food trucks, a quiet tent and a lineup of entertainment and educational programming centered around this year’s theme, “Fearless and Free, Louder than Ever.”<\/p>\n
Last year’s festival drew an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 people, according to Vice President and Marketing\/Social Media Director Janitza Sawyer-Ocasio. Organizers hope to match or exceed that turnout as the organization marks five years in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sawyer-Ocasio said the theme was chosen to emphasize authenticity and visibility.<\/p>\n
“Being gay, being queer, is living authentically and living without fear,” Sawyer-Ocasio said.<\/p>\n
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In promotional materials, organizers describe the theme as a response to what they call a rising climate of hate and political unrest while encouraging community members to remain visible and engaged.<\/p>\n
Several new attractions are planned for this year’s festival.<\/p>\n
“We have a few new entertainers that are joining us this year,” Sawyer-Ocasio said.<\/p>\n
Among them is Venus Envy, a Big Rapids-based all-women band. Organizers are also adding spoken-word performances featuring poets accompanied by piano.<\/p>\n
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The festival will continue to feature two drag shows and a dance hour. Organizers are also exploring additional opportunities for community participation, including a dance lesson intended to encourage audience involvement.<\/p>\n
Attendees will also be able to visit an LGBTQIA history tent featuring information about the queer community and a memorial wall where people can honor loved ones who have died.<\/p>\n
Another new addition is a dunk tank fundraiser, where locals can dunk members of the Pride Big Rapids board.<\/p>\n
Organizers are recruiting local community figures to participate, and attendees will be able to make donations for opportunities to dunk participants. Pride Big Rapids board members are also expected to take part.<\/p>\n
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Beyond the entertainment, Sawyer-Ocasio said the organization hopes the festival helps people learn more about Pride Big Rapids and encourages broader community involvement.<\/p>\n
“I hope they come visit us. They get to know us a little bit more, that they learn that we are here with them and for them,” Sawyer-Ocasio said.<\/p>\n
Sawyer-Ocasio said the organization’s mission centers on advocacy and inclusivity and that organizers want the event to be welcoming to anyone who attends.<\/p>\n
“Whether you’re gay or straight, this is a place for you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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The fifth-anniversary celebration is being branded as the “Queen-Tennial,” a name organizers say honors longtime supporter Carol Zimmerman, known to many residents as “Grandma Carol.”<\/p>\n
According to Sawyer-Ocasio, Zimmerman opened her home for the organization’s earliest meetings and inspired the festival’s crown-themed logo and Queen-Tennial branding.<\/p>\n
“She has been a pillar to our organization with her support and love and welcoming personality to everybody that comes through and meets her,\u201d Sawyer-Ocasio said.<\/p>\n
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Festival information, volunteer opportunities and donation details are available through Pride Big Rapids’ website and social media channels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 28, downtown Big Rapids will host the Pride Big Rapids\u00a0Queen-Tennial Festival…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[102672,102673,9,24,63,102671,122,124,123,102674,102676,102675],"class_list":["post-264988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-hrshare","tag-lcsshare","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-pioshare","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sat061326","tag-sat062726","tag-sun062126"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}