BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — The Boise Pride Festival and Parade returns this weekend to Cecil D. Andrus Park.
Friday night, the Idaho Statehouse will be lit up with rainbow colors.
Last year, some sponsors backed out after a controversy over a planned kids' drag show and a letter from the Idaho GOP chairwoman, but this year, the festival's director says many of the sponsors are back, and they've raised even more money.
After what happened last year, this year's Boise Pride theme is "Be Proud and Be Loud."
"Be proud about who you are, and you know, be loud about it. You don't have to hide that," said Donald Williamson, the executive director of Boise Pride.
He says a few sponsors aren't back this year, but the other sponsors stepped up and helped raise a record amount of money to put the event together.
"This year is going to be huge," he said.
From big-name performers like Big Freedia and Peppermint, the pride parade, and all of the events in between, Williamson expects to see anywhere from 50,000-70,000 people show up.
Just in the last week, Boise Pride secured enough funding to light up the capitol. It typically costs about $5,000 to light it. This year, it will cost about three times that since they will have to set up the lights across the street from the statehouse.
"This community is amazing, and they stepped up, and in like a week and a half, they raised over three-quarters of the amount that we needed," said Williamson. "Lime Scooters, in addition to the sponsorship they already were committing to, they said we want to fund the rest of it."
As always, Williamson says the safety and security of people attending are their biggest priority.
"We don't have the luxury of living in a society that we cannot have that as a main focus," he said. "We're working with a private security firm and the Boise PD. We have great relationships with all of them, with the Department of Justice, the local DOJ's office, with the FBI."
That means you'll see security guards and police, but there will also be measures you won't see, Williamson said.
The weekend's goal is to provide a place to celebrate the diversity of our entire community.
"It's easy to feel alone in this state sometimes, especially when you're attacked, you know, constantly for just existing from day to day, so it's great to have these events where this community can see, like, there are big numbers out there in this state that support you," he said.
The Boise Pride events start Friday and run through Sunday. The capitol will be lit up Friday night. The parade begins at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Cecil D. Andrus Park.
A full schedule can be found HERE.
The Boise Pride Festival is free for all to attend, but donations are encouraged at the festival entrance if you can give.
More information can be found on boisepridefest.org. For the 2023 Boise Pride Festival guide, click HERE.
ncG1vNJzZmihlJa1sLrEsKpnm5%2BifK%2Bx1qxmpaeTlrlwrs6iqp5loKe2pbGMn5ysrJmrrq15wKebZqiRp66lsYycpqahnpx6tbuMnJycoZxisW6tzZ2prqtdpa6zt4ytn6KrXayyprfEp5s%3D