SPOKANE, Wash. — Thousands of people gathered at Riverfront Park this afternoon for Spokane’s 35th annual Pride festival and parade.
About 70,000 people attended the weekend celebration, which featured local vendors, live performances and community activities.
“This is our 35th annual Pride celebration here in Spokane. It’s a combination of a parade and a festival. It’s grown so much in recent years as you can see. There are probably 70,000 people within a mile of here right now,” said Jacob Beye, Spokane Pride treasurer.
The event requires year-round planning by volunteers who work alongside their regular jobs.
“We work 12 months of the year as volunteers. We all have our own jobs to put this on. We are so passionate about it. It takes 40 people several months and it takes 400 people two days,” Beye said.
The festival brought together people from across the community to celebrate diversity and acceptance.
“We are not all the same person or the same type of person. We are really here because we share the value of celebrating each other, being proud of ourselves and including diversity in our city,” Beye said.
Spokane Pride stays active throughout the year, hosting events across the region.
“Spokane Pride does about 60 events a year, including supporting other prides in northern Idaho especially. I spend my entire summer going town to town to town supporting other prides and it’s truly the most beautiful thing I do in my life, other than this of course. This is amazing,” said Matthew Danielson, Spokane Pride executive director.
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