JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — The 1st Annual Pride End of Summer Festival will be held on Sept. 7, 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m., at Rotary Park, 1001 N. Broadway St. The event is being hosted by the Pride Community Center of the Tri-Cities.
The day will be filled with food, fun, live music and informative speakers, as well as activities for children. Additionally, a silent auction will help raise funds for the development of a center. Local LGBT artists will showcase their works which will be up for sale.
Key organizers for the event are center co-chairs Kenn Lyon and John Baker.
Musical headliner will be A Greater Disaster, a local indie/Americana/soul band comprised of students and recent alumni of East Tennessee State University’s music department.
Organizers have opened a call for other musicians and performers to participate in the day-long celebration.
Artists and crafters will show their wares from 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Booth and tent space will be available.
No festival is ever complete without volunteers and a rasher of people will be needed to make sure the day is successful. People will be needed for set-up, clean-up, errands, food service kitchen and grill help, as well as entrance support and more.
The festival is open to everyone.
Cost to attend is $10 for adults. Children will be admitted free-of-charge.
The center is hopeful that they can open a brick-and-mortar location in 2015 to serve the LGBT community in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. There are only two other centers in the state, one in Memphis and the other in Nashville. This would be the first center in East Tennessee.
The organizers want the space to provide one that fosters understanding, education, acceptance, advocacy and growth. It would be one where people can gather socially, hold meetings, have functions and pool all the resources of the LGBT community, organizers shared. The PCC will provide information on pertinent issues, such as gay owned or operated businesses, gay friendly businesses, hotlines, LGBT groups, support groups, LGBT activities and events, and LGBT friendly services.
Organizers imagine a fully-diverse, respectful, non-violent, empowered society.
info/volunteerism: pridetricities.com. pridetricities@gmail.com.
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