The Kansas City Pride Community Alliance has once again hosted the 2024 KC Pride Festival.

The event returned this year to Frank Tyce Park from June 7th through ninth, turning the Country Club Plaza into a shimmering rainbow to celebrate Pride Month.

The.

Thousands of people from all over the Kansas City metropolitan area and beyond came to celebrate the LGBTQ plus community.

Kansas City has been having pride parades and festivals since 1975, making this the 49th year of celebration in.

KC Pride Fest hosted a multitude of performers from a..

This year, there were over 100 performers at the festival performing on the two stages.

One of the featured performers this year was Kansas City's own Lorna Lux, also known as Landon Patterson.

Lorna looks as a trans woman and popular drag performer in the Kansas City area.

This year, Lorna was Kansas City Pride's grand Marshal in.

Pride 2020.

For a lot of us and.

On Saturday, KC Pride Fest held its annual pride Parade.

Hundreds of people and organizations walked the streets of Kansas City with elaborate floats.

Balloons, bubbles and glitter created a sea of rainbow colored pride.

KC Pride Fest also host hundreds of vendors.

My name is Charlene Nelson Thomas, and my business is called .. What I do is I create handmade craft, rhinestone wise.

Just for the fun.

I love, the idea of women being queen.

So the slogan for my business is unleash your inner Queen.

So that's what I'm doing.

I like to do certain things that doesn't require sizes, and it's those things that you can have in your home just for the sparkles of your life.

I'm all about the sparkle, baby.

I actually, I'm in five locations here in the Kansas City area, and so I have products in all of those stores.

It's absolutely amazing.

This is like my favorite event all year long because it's people coming together, loving on each other.

I look forward to this like I'm taking I have a full time job.

I took off my job to be here for I am.

This is my thing.

I just wish people would take the time to get to know other people, because there's so much love in this community, and I just don't think people take the time.

It's a lot out of ignorance.

People are phenomenal.

They are so kind, so sweet, and they don't care.

They just want to live their lives and be happy.

My name is Aaron Forrest Time.

And my business is, Woven Rainbows by Aaron.

And it is.

I make chainmail.

and I've always loved rainbows and natural elements.

And so I've kind of incorporated that into my designs.

I love weaving the different, designs into the chain mail and and making rainbows, and I just love making people happy.

This is my first year at KC Prize.

It's all about love, and it's about coming together as a community with love, being in the center of everything instead of hate.

You know, we really want to spread love and celebrate that love.

Within the vendor tents, there are also several local organizations that come to spread information important to the LGBTQ plus community.

My name is David Twitter.

I am with P Flag Kansas City.

P flag is one of the longest lived advocacy organizations for the LGBTQ population.

It's been around for over 50 years.

Started with one mom who started a support group after walking with her son and one of the first gay pride festivals.

Visibility is absolutely critical, there.

And as long as people are coming out and living authentically, it's important that we celebrate that and support that.

As a representative for people like, it's wonderful to see the diversity in this community, the people from across this, population, regardless of age, their, backgrounds that they come together to celebrate their authentic selves, regardless of who we are or where we live.

Speaking of education, KC Pride Fest also has a tent dedicated to just that, bringing knowledge on a variety of topics into the community.

Some of my name is Stephanie Lewis, Black Bunny the Yogi.

I am the founder of Angel yoga and under Amo yoga is a nonprofit called Angel kids and Angel Kids Yoga is a nonprofit that goes around to different schools in the Kansas City area to teach students yoga while they're in school, and the premises to become your own superhero.

So I'm talking about today how yoga helps the children become more intellectually intelligent, more social and emotionally controlled, more confident within themselves, and helps alleviate stress and, teach tools of coping mechanisms and what's important.

Education is important across the board in all aspects, and I think it's a really nice opportunity to mesh together.

Pride, which is such an inclusive month and just an inclusive, you know, series of events with education because it gives a a really good field for people to learn more about something that maybe they didn't know.

I mean, prior to learning more about peo.. and how they might express themselves and, and inclusion in that way, and then also education alongside with that and learning about maybe another modality of.. health, wellness, whatever you call it.

I think it's a really nice, caring.

For the first time, Casey Pride first introduced the Wellness Tent presented by Marc Bod, a local queer owned organization.

The Wellness tent provided physical and mental relaxation to those who needed a break from the festivities.

So I am Kristy Vincent, co-owner with my wife of Marc Bod, which stands for Masculine of center.

Big on ever.

well, we come every year because we just enjoy the community and it's just a great event.

And this year we were very honored to be asked to, manage the wellness tent, which is brand new this year.

And so we are here managing them on the set.

It is, first of all, air conditione.. and people can come in and relax.

We have a ton of wellness providers of of you know, we have physical, mental health.

spiritual wellness, environmental wellness, financial wellness.

And we also have like a massage therapist, yoga in.. all kinds of people just giving resources and answering questions to our community, and also just letting people know that they're here, and a safe space for the .. to receive these kinds of resources.

So I think Kansas City Pride Fest is super important to the community, mainly because, I mean, yo.. are here enjoying it, and it's just people have a need for a place to come and be themselves.

We had somebody come in and they were a teenager and just said, I can be myself here.

And that's it's what it's for is meeting people, building resources, having a good time.

So it's.

I want to take Casey.

Game on also hosted this year's gaming tent, returning for the second year in a row.

My name is Landon Cornett.

I am here as an ally and because I help to, run Casey Game On, which is a local nonprofit that helps, build commun.. in the Kansas City area through a shared love of gaming.

And we are here, helping to bring the games to everyone at pride.

I think KC Pride Fest is important to the community in Kansas City, because it allows everyone a chance to come out and be themselves in a place where they don't have to worry about persecution, they don't have to worry about, odd looks from people, and they can come to a place and do all sorts of fun things, listen to music, bring their kids out to play on the inflatables, play video games at our gaming tent, and just be themselves out in public.

And.

Kansas City Pride Festival brings the community together for a three day celebration of diversity, inclusion and acceptance.

I.

My name is Kirsten.

This is my first year.

My favorite part about pride is that everybody is always so kind to one another.

And that it's also inclusive, and you get to meet tons of different kinds of people and learn about other people and how they identify.

Hi.

My name is Kai and this is my third year at pride.

My favorite part about pride is seeing like all different types of people and like all different types of sexualities, even like all like allies and seeing like parents with their kids and bringing them into the community and seeing a lot of like all the people in Kansas City, like knowing that you're not alone.

And I just think it's great.

I am the call center era.

All see aspects around us are perhaps one of the best reasons why I'm here is the music, the community.

I'm here with my friends.

and I'm just.

I'm just tickled pink to be here.

The celebration continues outside of the festival throughout the month of June.

Happy pride from Red Digital Studios and Camas PBS.