Pride Fest returns to Merced after hiatus, draws large crowd downtown for celebration
Main Street and Canal Street were blocked off in downtown as Pride Fest returned to Merced for the first time since 2019.
Vendors lined the street on Saturday evening and people gathered around Bob Hart Square for entertainment, singing and dancing as people celebrated the region’s LGTBQ+ community at an all-day festival.
“The festival itself as a stand alone is in itself quite amazing and exciting, but I think it’s really the culmination of events leading up to this,” said Merced Pride Center Executive Director Jennifer McQueen.
She pointed to events like the Merced Pride Center opening up in January, a film festival in May and the Pride Flag raising ceremony in June.
“It’s all these sort of new events that are leading up to this big celebration where we’re really trying to pull in all the folks across Merced County,” McBride said.
The festival drew a large crowd of all ages. The street festival was spread out from K to M streets, along with Bob Hart Square and Canal Street.
There was a stage set up in front of Bog Hart Square where a large crowd was entertained by singers, drag performers and music. There were youth activities and art workshops held earlier in the day.
There were over 70 booths with local vendors selling crafts, food and other items. Local organizations, businesses, food trucks, vendors and artists were all represented.
“It is so important that our community feels safe and comfortable to express themselves in order to build a better community for the future,” said Merced City Councilmember Bertha Perez, when she addressed the crowd.
“This world would be a whole lot better if we just made an effort to love one another and that’s exactly what takes place here today at this event,” Perez added.
McBride said she was pleased with the turnout for the festival.
“ I am pleasantly surprised with how many folks are here,” she said. “You put an event on like this, you don’t really know what to expect. You have those fears of ‘we could cultivate all these vendors and put all this work into it then nobody could come,’ but I am very, very pleasantly surprised (about) all the folks who came on out.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 9:04 AM.
