Philadelphia celebrated the first ever Coming Out Parade in America on Saturday. It was part of the city’s OURFest celebrations as National Coming Out Day approaches. NBC10’s Karen Hua has the highlights.
Philadelphia made history this weekend by hosting the only parade in the country dedicated and inspired by National Coming Out Day.
Galaei, a Queer and Trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color radical social justice organization, organized a weekend of events called OURFest: National Coming Out Parade and Festival. This three-day celebration is all about supporting individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community.
OURfest stands for "Our Uniting Resilience" and event organizers have planned a welcome party, parade and festival.
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The City of Brotherly Love had already broken records back in June for the "largest Gay Pride march and festival in Philadelphia history" and “largest Gay Pride Flag in Pennsylvania history," according to event organizers and now it's time to do it all over again.
“We developed Galaei’s Pride 365 Initiative to redefine and elevate Pride Month Month in June and we are excited to do the same thing in October for National Coming Out Day/Weekend,” Galaei Executive Director and Community Organizer Tyrell Brown said in a news release. “Gay Pride and National Coming Out are crucial opportunities for our communities to join together in celebration and reflection, to find family and togetherness, to have access to resources, and to share the love, art and joy that are hallmarks of our community.”
Here's everything you need to know if you want to attend any of the events:
OURfest Welcome Party
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The welcoming party, parade preview and VIP reception was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Friday, Oct. 6 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Guests got a sneak peek of the parade floats, enjoy live music, a cash bar and light refreshments.
OURfest National Coming Out Parade
The parade took place on Saturday, Oct. 7 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and kicked off in Historic Philadelphia at 5th and Market and end at Broad and Arch Streets.
This historic parade featured floats, community organizations, marching bands, cheerleaders and live performances that spotlighted the vibrancy of the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philadelphia region.
There was also a record-breaking 200-foot rainbow flag.
OURfest National Coming Out Festival
The celebration continues on Sunday, Oct. 8 with the festival and resource fair that will take over the Gayborhood and Midtown Village with hundreds of vendors, entertainers, artists, restaurants, food trucks and community organizations.
Visitors can enjoy the festival from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., the resource fair and family zone from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and the last call for food trucks will be at 6:30 p.m.
According to event organizers, this festival will spread out across the Gayborhood from 13th and Walnut down to 13th and Locust, across Locust to 12th, then from there to 12th and Spruce and other select roads will be closed around the festival.
For more information about OURfest visit www.nationalcomingout.org.
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