Despite the heavy cloud cover and passing showers, Uniting Pride didn’t let gray skies or drizzle rain on its parade. The 2025 CU Pride Fest featured a week of events culminating in a parade, street fair and drag show on Saturday.
The parade filled the streets of downtown Urbana with music and balloons starting at 1 p.m., followed by vendors and performers continuing the celebration. The parade started at the intersection of East Illinois Street and South Vine Street, and ended at the intersection of North Broadway Avenue and East Water Street.
Jacqueline Kalipeni, executive board secretary of Uniting Pride, said that Uniting Pride chooses to hold the event in October because not every student can celebrate Pride in the summer. Kalipeni said Champaign-Urbana’s status as a college town creates a safe space for students in the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Some of our students are not able to feel safe in their communities,” Kalipeni said. “We wait for a lot of people to come back for them to feel safe.”
The parade’s vibrant environment featured bedazzled vehicles, bright signs, rainbow outfits and Halloween costumes along with queer anthems from the likes of Lady Gaga and Charli xcx.
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Ezra Fielden, graduate student studying library and information sciences, dressed up as Lego fairy Batman to celebrate both their identity and the convergence of Pride and Halloween.
“As a trans man specifically, I wanted to reclaim aspects of womanhood,” Fielden said. “People are like ‘Oh, now that you’re a man you can’t do that,’ and I’m like, ‘It’s Halloween, I can do whatever the f— I want.”
After the parade, crowds made their way to the subsequent festival, at which artists and organization booths were located.
Floating above the music and cheers of the crowd was the enthusiastic voice of Diane Ducey, a broadcaster from Tolono, Illinois, who announced the parade.
According to Ducey, among those featured in the parade were Champaign local Michael Hogue and his partner Bruce Rainey, one of the first same-sex couples in Illinois to receive a civil union license according to a law passed in 2011.
“Those are some of the highlights to me, just in reading the script and hearing so much support in our community, it’s huge,” Ducey said.
Kalipeni mentioned that the community’s support has been 15 years in the making, with the first Pride Fest being held by Uniting Pride in August 2010.
“The purpose of doing a pride week is really just to get more people’s knowledge on what’s happening within the LGBTQIA+ community and create conversation,” Kalipeni said.
Uniting Pride not only preaches inclusivity as an organization but also on the individual level, with many employees showing up and showing out at their events to create safe spaces.
Among these employees is photographer Caspian Voss, who is originally from Peoria, Illinois, but recently moved to Urbana. Voss voices the belief that it’s important for media to be accessible and inclusive for all. After reaching out to Uniting Pride, Voss secured a photography position with the organization.
“I knew that I wanted to be a photographer, but I also wanted to create something that was accessible to everyone,” Voss said. “Especially working with groups that I’m a part of or are marginalized in some way.”
While Pride Fest only occurs once a year, Uniting Pride offers many services and events throughout the year that the community can attend while they wait for the next week of Pride.
