DULUTH, MINN. --- The 24th annual Duluth-Superior Pride Festival came to Bayfront Festival Park on Saturday, providing the Twins Ports community a chance to gather and celebrate its diversity.
"We draw such a mixed crowd down here," Duluth-Superior Pride co-chair Jesse Dykhuis said. "It's half the gay and lesbian folks getting to come down and celebrate, but it also lets us share what our life and culture looks like with everyone else in Duluth."
Duluth-Superior Pride co-chairs Jesse Dykhuis and David Vipond spend most of the year preparing for the event, but call it really a work of passion.
"We're both, as co-chairs, really out and very proud," Vipond said. "We're just fighting for equality and watching the changes, and it's just helped everyone else come along."
The theme of this year's festival is "Do Ask, Do Tell," the opposite of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Dykhuis said that's a pivotal piece of this year's event.
"It's an important piece of the whole movement," Dykhuis said. "The gay and lesbian rights movement has lots of arms, but what's happening in the military is an important one."
Beyond the military, state officials say it's important for the community to come together and promote equality.
"I think that anything we can do to break down the barriers," Minnesota Lieutenant Governor candidate Yvonne Pretner-Solon said, "and to allow people to interact and be who they are is what we would like to move toward."
And after this year's festival is over, Vipond promises big things for next year's 25th annual event.
"We are going to start planning for the 25th," Vipond said, "which is going to be huge next year."
The Pride Festival continues tonight and tomorrow. For a full list of events, go to the Duluth-Superior Pride web site.
Posted by Zach Schneider
zschneider@northlandsnewscenter.com
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