SPOKANE, Wash. — The Garland District is hosting its first-ever pride event on Saturday, August 17.
Spokane Pride, the organization behind other city pride events, has organized what they hope will become a new staple event.
"There just hasn't been a reason to have neighborhood pride events and we want to change that obviously," said Matthew Danielson, the executive director at Spokane Pride.
Danielson says he hopes the pride fair will be just as big of an event as the Garland Street Fair, which stopped happening almost a decade ago. He says the event is meant to celebrate diversity in the community and bring business to the neighborhood.
Danielson says the event theme is "Never Going to Hide" and seeks to provide a place of celebration for LGBTQ+ youth, year-round.
"There is a large part of our community that grows up just hating themselves and not being able to show who they actually are and that is a terrible place to be in," said Danielson. "That's why our theme this year is never going to hide, we don't want people to hide."
The celebration is also themed after The Wizard of Oz, which pays homage to Judy Garland, who famously played Dorothy Gale in the 1939 movie, "Wizard of Oz" and shares a namesake with the neighborhood.
There will be about 35 vendors at the event with food, drinks, art and community services. There will also be music, performances and a Dorothy costume contest.
"We are not trying to push some radical political position, it's not going to be some debaucherous party, it's going to be families and vendors and people having a good time celebrating each other," said Danielson.