by Linley Mueller
On October 27th, Danville hosted its first ever Pride Festival at Pioneer Playhouse! This was a well attended event that had drag performances, local singers, merchandise booths, and a guest speaker. I decided to go with a group of my friends, and we were all so excited to be able to celebrate Pride together since we are not all at Centre during June.
When we first arrived, we walked down a gravel path to get to the front of the playhouse. There were booths winding around the concrete path outside. Some of the first booths we saw were promoting safe sex, offering therapy, and giving out fun free items. (I even got a free necklace!) Other booths were selling crochet animals, tote bags, and jewelry. Everyone looked happy and were very welcoming, and it was a lot of fun from the moment we arrived.
Later on, we sat in a lawn to get a good view of the drag performances that we heard would be taking place. The first performance was by a drag queen named Miss Bonita Bloom. Miss Bonita had a great performance, and interaction with the audience sparked excitement. Next, there were more amazing performances by Miss Jezzabella, Sir Latcher, Miss Mikayla Bloom, and Miss Adriana Fuentes, who was on the second season of Drag Latina. During the performances, I noticed that everyone who I looked at had a smile on their face, whether they were watching, dancing, or cheering. For one of my friends there, it was her first time seeing a drag performance, and I was so glad that we could share that experience.
At the end of my time at the event, there was a guest speaker brought out. Willie Carver, an educator and author from Floyd County, Kentucky, came out onto the stage and spoke to the audience. He introduced himself as a very avid advocate for the LGTBQ+ community, especially within Kentucky youth. Carver was named Kentucky Teacher of the Year in 2022, but this was soon followed by an influx of homophobia and hate online. He decided to fight for LGBTQ+ people everywhere by countering the book bans that were rampant across many states last year. Carver also discussed the common experiences of homophobia and transphobia as kids are growing up. He read a poem from his book, Gay Poems for Red States. I was able to talk with him about these bans, thanking him for helping in bringing banned books back into schools.
Overall, I am very glad that this event happened and that it will continue to happen in the future. Being able to experience the first pride festival in Danville was amazing and I loved being able to go with my friends and see great performances.