With a new location, a full schedule of events leading up to Knoxville PrideFest, and lots of support from both the community and businesses, PrideFest promises to be bigger and better than ever. Saturday, June 22 at World’s Fair Park South Lawn, promises to have more people coming OUT than ever before and Todd Cramer, President of Knoxville Pride, and his team are certainly ready and welcoming.
It has been a long road getting here. However, since the birth of Knoxville PrideFest, the event has seen steady progress since 2006. “With each successful year, the festival grows in support from both businesses, and the community,” Cramer said. “That growth brings a larger budget, recognition from surrounding communities and involvement from our local government.”
The festival kicks off with the Knoxville PrideFest parade at noon. The procession will advance to World’s Fair Park where the party goes until 10 p.m.. This year’s festival is almost double last year’s and is sure to keep everyone out & about with fun!
“The other big change for this year is that we have decided if we we’re to Live. Love. Be. Proud! then we should model that behavior,” Cramer shared. “Instead of booking one large, gay-friendly, but straight headliner, we chose to book four out and proud headliners. Not only are we very excited, but the response from the community has been even better than we expected. We are now expecting our largest attendance ever.”
This year’s entertainment includes Tennessee native (and Tony Award winning actor) Levi Kreis, Beverley McClellan from NBC’s The Voice, hip-hop/soul duo God Des and She and Dangerous Muse.
“As we continue to expand our impact on the lives of individuals, our community and the involvement of sponsors, we plan to also expand the opportunities for each to be involved in shaping East Tennessee Equality Council (ETEC) and Knoxville PrideFest for years to come,” said Cramer. “We hope they will become involved in all aspects of our organization and events, shaping them to be what they need, allowing them to further engage, enlighten and educate and expanding the outreach to an even greater part of East TN.” And according to their social media ‘likes,’ the excitement is spreading like wildfire. This is sure to be the best ever Knoxville PrideFest.