HOLYOKE — The biggest celebration of all this Pride Month in the city of Holyoke will come on June 22 with Holyoke PrideFest 2024.
The free event will take place from noon to 6 p.m. at Veterans Park in Holyoke and the public is invited to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community of Holyoke in a day filled with joy, good eats and performances.
Holyoke Pride Committee member Jeff Bianchine told Reminder Publishing that each year has only seen growth in interest for the event, as well as events planned throughout the month of celebrations by the committee.
“We’ve really expanded this year, we got a whole full month of pretty much every weekend with events going on,” Bianchine said. “This has been sort of the idea is to grow the brand and then to institutionalize it into some sort of supporting agency to help other events so it’s not just us putting on everything.”
Featured performers will include Yuhua Hamasaki from season 10 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and for the second straight year Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Mary Lambert. The day will also feature a wide variety of craft vendors and performances by drag queens.
Following PrideFest’s conclusion, there will be a Pride Block Party at Fame Lounge. Tickets for that event can be found on holyokepride.org.
Pridefest is the biggest celebration event scheduled for the month, but the Pride Committee has also set up multiple other events throughout the month in what is set to be the biggest year for the celebrations in the city seen yet.
Already having the flag raising at City Hall, a drag brunch at Fame Lounge, and the first-ever Rainbow Run 5K, the month of celebrations is off to a fast start. On June 14, the House of Colors Holyoke Youth Queer Prom will take place from 4-8 p.m., and a drag story hour will be hosted at the Holyoke Public Library on Thursday, June 20.
The concluding event is a Marathon Row on Saturday, June 29 at 11 a.m., at Nasty Habit CrossFit. The event returns once again as a fundraiser to benefit the OUT Foundation and celebrate Pride Month with an event to get people active. This event can be registered for on holyokepride.org.
Looking ahead to PrideFest itself, Bianchine said he hopes weather prevails and the city gets a great day outside of celebrating its LGBTQ+ community.
“It’s exciting,” Bianchine said. “I think this is the year we’re gonna get it and do it right with the weather and everything.”
For more information on the Pride related events planned throughout the month and PrideFest specifically, visit www.holyokepride.org.
