Uniting Pride’s CU Pride Fest parade and fair took to the streets of downtown Urbana on Saturday afternoon to unite the queer community in its celebration of love and freedom of expression.
The parade kicked off at 1 p.m. at the intersection of North Broadway Avenue and East Water Street, and featured a variety of community organizations and groups such as the Champaign County chapter of Planned Parenthood and Amasong, Champaign-Urbana’s leading lesbian and feminist chorus.
At the nearby intersection of South Race and West Main streets, the fair showcased local businesses and artists which sold an abundance of different art and merchandise, from jewelry to crocheted items. Many community organizations also had tables where they offered free candies and goodies.
People of all ages roamed the road in rainbow-colored clothing and paraphernalia. The community gathered in groups to cheer as they watched decorated parade floats and animated marching groups go by in droves.
For Aidan Novinska, operations coordinator of Uniting Pride, it was great to see how much the C-U community has in common.
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“Every time I go to Pride I feel like I see organizations there who I wouldn’t maybe expect to be there,” Novinska said. “But, it’s good to see so many people showing solidarity, so many more people showing that they do care and are willing to show up for LGBTQ people and our rights.”
Several of those in attendance had returned from years prior, such as Briana Clark, a member of the C-U community.
“Everybody’s been so nice and friendly,” Clark said. “We’ve got a lot of good goodies to take home.”
According to Novinska, CU Pride Fest takes six to nine months to plan, so they will begin preparations for next year very soon.
Novinska is passionate about holding these events to celebrate the far the LGBTQ movement has come. Additionally, he emphasized the importance of establishing their presence in the community.
“In particular, in the last five, 10 years I feel like we’ve seen a lot of things go backward in a lot of ways, especially with trans rights,” Novinska said. “So, I think it’s really important to just show up and show people that we are here and we’re not going anywhere. Trans people (and) queer people will always exist and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
