Rainbows covered downtown Urbana on Saturday for the Champaign-Urbana 2023 Pride Fest Parade and Fair hosted by the United Pride Center. Vendors lined the streets from noon to 5 p.m. to hand out pride-themed merchandise and show support for the community.
Adjacent to Main Street is Elm Street, where the main festivities of the day began with a pride parade. Cars, floats and signs were cheered on by awaiting crowds from the sidewalks.
Among the walkers included the United Pride Center, the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, the Urbana Park District and the crown winners of the Mx. Chambana Pageant 2023 winners, Mx. Karma Carrington and Mx. Chambana Supreme Asianna B. Carrington.
Candy and bubble machines flew from various floats as they headed down Elm Street.
On Broadway Street, the One Community Together stage played live music. Attendees were able to watch multiple bands play during the duration of the parade sponsored by One Community Together.
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From 1-4 p.m., Amasong, Bow-dacious String Band, Old Time Jam Band, Sixth Street Brass Band and the Marching Illini graced the stage, providing a musical break for attendees.
Within Urbana’s festival limits, this year’s event hosted vendors, art, community organizations and educational resources for all participants. Flyers being distributed ranged from topics regarding mental and physical health resources to community organizations to unite the LGBTQ+ community.
Ellen Elghammer, an admissions adviser at Parkland College, and Maureen Wietecha, a digital content manager at Parkland College, attended Pride Fest with Parkland College, one of many sponsors at Pride Fest.
“Being able to connect with our community and letting them know of our presence is crucial,” Elghammer said.
“If you need anything, we are here to help,” Wietcha said.
Both Elghammer and Wietecha cheered the fest on. “Happy Pride!” they said.
Alongside Parkland College were additional educational resource sponsors from the University of Illinois, including the Gies College of Business and the University YMCA.
The timeliness of the typical LGBTQ+ pride festivities did not deter the C-U community from showing up. The United Pride Center believes pride can exist all year alongside the internationally recognized month of June for pride.
According to their official website, “we (UPC) believe this community deserves robust programming beyond just once a year, including at a time when most of our community members are here in town — the Fall. We choose to produce this special program at this time and invite the entire community to join us.”
C-U’s first pride fest was in 2010, 13 years ago. Since then, the UPC and the C-U community have strived to make pride an integral part of the community by having it annually, according to their official website.
Local resident Dan Urban attended this year’s Pride Fest with his wife. The two enjoyed the parade, the vendors and the music, alongside their dog.
“We come whenever we are in town just because we believe love is love,” Urban said. “We love to support everyone.”
