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Take in some scenes from 2026 Akron Pride Festival and Equity March
Scenes from the tenth Akron Pride Festival and Equity March, Aug. 22, 2026.
The Akron Pride Festival kicked off its tenth anniversary in grand fashion Aug. 22 with its annual Equity March that stretched from the previous Spaghetti Warehouse parking zone up Main Street to Cascade Plaza downtown.
Leading the march with colourful satisfaction flags was the Collage Pride Guard, a gaggle of performers that includes flag, rifle and dance choreography. The group, helmed by Barry Artis, was celebrating its fourth yr within the Akron Pride Festival Equity March.
The Collage Pride Guard is an extension of Collage, a aggressive coloration guard based in Akron 38 years in the past.
“Diversity is a big part of our organization. We welcome people from a very diverse background and it’s a place for them to be themselves without being judged, without feeling fear of any type of negativity,” Artis stated. “It’s just a very welcoming, open environment and we felt that that fit in well with the mission of the Pride Festival.”
A complete of 129 teams registered for the march, with the teams reporting almost 3,000 contributors, stated march chair Lucas Barstow.
Brian Lamoda-Genet, who has been the pageant chair since 2023, stated he was anticipating this yr’s pageant to attract the most important variety of contributors and attendees but. On Friday evening, the Akron Pride Festival 5K drew a report 377 runners.
“We’re expecting a lot more people here than in past years. You can just see this like sea of people here. It’s going to be amazing,” he stated simply earlier than the march began. “Everyone is here to have a great day, and they keep us going each year.”
Lamoda-Genet confused that Akron’s Pride Festival hosts a march, not a parade with floats or automobiles. The pageant will proceed to have a march till full equality and fairness has been achieved for all LGBTQ+ individuals, the group’s web site explains.
Lamoda-Genet referenced the primary satisfaction occasions that have been held on the one-year anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York, which occurred in response to a police raid on the Stonewall Inn tied to anti-LGBTQ insurance policies and attitudes.
“We will always march,” Lamoda-Genet stated. “We march until we’re all one.”
Akron Pride Festival a time for celebration
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, who participated within the march along with his reelection supporters, talked concerning the significance of the pageant’s milestone tenth anniversary.
“I remember the very first march down to Hardesty (Park) from Highland Square and it’s amazing to see how it’s grown,” he stated. “This is a beautiful day, a beautiful celebration.”
Julie Beckert, pageant co-chair, stated the primary Akron Pride Festival in 2017 drew 6,000 attendees and this yr’s was anticipated to attract about 47,000.
“It’s just a commitment from the community,” she stated.
As march contributors made their approach down Main Street, they yelled out “Happy pride” to onlookers, who responded in variety. Those who marched with Malik handed out satisfaction flags to onlookers.
Parade contributors wearing all types of vibrant costumes. They included Preston Reynolds, who wore a blow-up parrot costume with a tall, Carmen Miranda-style hat depicting fruit, and Mike Benzick, who wore a coordinating rooster costume with a foam cowboy hat.
The males, who’re from Cleveland, determined on the Cleveland Pride Festival greater than a yr in the past that they wanted to up their recreation with their costumes. They discovered their novel seems to be on-line.
Others in eye-catching apparel included a festivalgoer in an Uncle Sam costume and one dressed because the Statue of Liberty, whose robe stated “Love is love” and “Drag is not a crime.”
The march traveled via a big group of distributors and organizations lining Main Street. Vendors, meals vehicles and different teams additionally lined Bowery Street. The pageant additionally featured a full lineup of leisure on the Equity Stage on Bowery in addition to the Lock 3 Stage, the place singer-songwriter Grace Oddo carried out because the march completed.
Performances have been to proceed till 10 p.m., with headliner Todrick Hall singing for the finale. Akron native drag entertainer Discord Addams additionally carried out amongst a lineup of native dancers, musicians, theater teams and different drag artists.
A brand new ingredient for the pageant was the pet-friendly Drinks & Disco Dogs at Lock 4, the place four-legged pets might hang around with their homeowners and revel in an interactive photograph sales space and pet parade. The Lock 4 venue additionally featured Pride-themed drinks.
Theme for Akron Pride Festival is residence
This yr’s Akron Pride Festival theme, residence, is a vital one for Akron native Jeffrey Fulvimari. The occasion is a homecoming for this freelance illustrator, who moved again to Akron in December after shifting away within the early Eighties.
Fulvimari designed the paintings for the Akron Pride Festival posters, T-shirt and extra, impressed by the house theme. He is a 1980 graduate of North High School who studied artwork on the Cleveland Institute of Art after which Cooper Union in New York.
“When I left in 1980, if you were gay and you lived in Akron, you really had few choices. You could hide, unfortunately commit suicide, or you could leave. It was really extreme. No one said the word ‘gay,'” he stated.
His highschool pal, Jeanne Tassiello Jordan who works for Lock 3, launched Fulvimari to the Akron Pride Fest management crew and his work creating illustrations for the occasion grew organically, the artist stated.
On Aug. 22, Fulvimari was wowed by the sheer scale of Akron Pride Fest.
“Now things are so much better” in Akron and all through the nation, he stated.
“I can’t even believe this,” he stated of the pageant. “It’s amazing.”
Fulvimari was proud to signal prints and posters of his Pride Festival paintings at Lock 3, the place the pageant was additionally promoting T-shirts. The pageant additionally plans to proceed promoting the creative merchandise on-line.
Arts and restaurant author Kerry Clawson could also be reached at 330-996-3527 or [email protected].
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