ST. LOUIS – Get set for the 35th annual St. Louis PrideFest celebration, to be held on Saturday and Sunday, June 28-29, 2014. For the second consecutive year, PrideFest organizers are proud to announce that the festival will take place in the heart of Downtown St. Louis, at Soldiers Memorial Park and in surrounding areas. Pride St. Louis, Inc. is also excited to partner with stl250, the organization responsible for planning and executing events in celebration of the 250th birthday of St. Louis.
What's more, Pride St. Louis, Inc. begins airing commercials to mark the occasion on PrideFest sponsor station Fox 2 this month.
As PrideFest celebrates its 35th anniversary in St. Louis, the Pride St. Louis Board of Directors continues to place the focus on festival growth, inclusion, equality and educational opportunities across the entire LGBT spectrum and its place in the greater St. Louis region. In the Human Rights Campaign’s 2013 Municipal Equality Index, which measures inclusivity among American cities, St. Louis received a perfect score of 100.
Once again, local city officials welcome PrideFest to Downtown St. Louis for the second consecutive year. Last year, Mayor Francis Slay predicted the “biggest party downtown has seen in decades” and promised “iconic St. Louis imagery and dramatic pictures highlighting the importance of the LGBT movement in association with the City of St. Louis.“ This year, the Mayor was honored to receive the Annual Felton T. Day Award, which is presented to a person not associated with Pride St. Louis whose service to the LGBT Community goes above and beyond the call of duty and who best exemplifies the spirit of leadership of service to one’s community.
I nominated and was honored to present this award to the Mayor because Mayor Slay has long been a champion of LGBT equality; he is a member of 'Mayor’s for the Freedom to Marry.' Under his leadership, St. Louis is one of just 25 cities to earn a perfect score of 100 under HRC’s Municipal Equality Index, which examines the laws, policies, and services of municipalities and rates them,'" stated Board Member Dennis Gorg.
Mayor Slay was honored to accept the award and highlighted the importance of equality for St. Louis. “Cities are strengthened by their families,” said Mayor Francis Slay. “I want St. Louis to be the sort of diverse and open place in which all families – gay and straight – choose to live, create and build businesses. Thirty-five years of celebrating with Pride shows this City’s dedication to consciously work to change policies to become more inclusive.”
In 2013, PrideFest attendance grew to approximately 125,000 with roughly 80,000 people attending the annual Pride Parade. This marks the largest attendance numbers in the history of the organization and positions the annual Pride Parade as the second largest parade in the city. In decades past, the Central West End, Forest Park, and Tower Grove Park have welcomed and played host to PrideFest.
This year, Pride St. Louis, Inc. is partnering with stl250 to honor some significant milestones. 2014 marks 35 years of existence for PrideFest in St. Louis and also the 250th anniversary of St. Louis as well as the 45th anniversary of Stonewall in New York. stl250 is focused on celebrating the rich history of St. Louis, applauding diversity and community pride, all while having a great time! The organization invites everyone to celebrate the history of the city while starting a conversation about its present and future. PrideFest is a featured event of stl250 and produced by Pride St. Louis, Inc. : http://events.stl250.org/event/2014/06/28/pridefest-2014
“stl250 celebrates some of the City’s greatest achievements and looks ahead to imagine the next 250 years,” said Mayor Slay. “We have a lot of pride in the work we’ve done to be an inclusive City, but as residents of Missouri, our work isn’t done. We won’t stop until we achieve equality for all people.”