AURORA, Colo. – LGBT Pride is officially recognized nationwide during the month of June, but not all cities celebrate at the same time and some don’t even have celebrations of their own.
Such was the case with the City of Aurora until recently.
The city, in partnership with the OUT FRONT Foundation, will host their first-ever Aurora Pride this Saturday, Aug. 5, 2017.
The celebrations will be held at the Great Lawn at the Aurora Municipal Center, located at 15151 East Alameda Parkway.
“It’s a first-of-its-kind event,” said OUT FRONT Foundation's director of development Christopher LaFleur. “The whole idea is that once we host this event, we hope that it attracts more LGBT organizations to the City of Aurora.”
LaFleur, in a phone conversation with Denver7, added that out of Aurora’s 361,000+ residents, it was time for its roughly 40,000 LGBT members to celebrate pride in their own city.
He argued that up until now, metro area residents have always celebrated equality in Denver, without a place to celebrate in their own backyard. LaFleur hopes the pride event in Aurora will highlight the city’s diverse community.
There will be more than 60 vendors during Aurora Pride, as well as some special guests including RuPaul Drag Race’s seventh season runner-up Pearl and local drag queen Jessica L’Whor.
There will be a full bar (21 and over), a sporting area including gay volleyball, a kid’s zone and food trucks.
The event is free and open to the public, but proceeds collected during Aurora Pride by vendors will benefit the organization’s scholarship program.
Aurora Pride 2017 will start at 10 a.m. (the bar area will open an hour later), with festivities ending at about 8 p.m.
The pride celebrations in Aurora follow last month’s in Colorado Springs and Denver’s PrideFest in June. The City of Boulder will celebrate pride in September.