LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Following a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Lexington Pride Festival returned in a big way last June. So big, in fact, organizers had to change the venue.
“We’ve basically outgrown that space,” said Chairman, Jeremy Ellis. “If anybody was there last year, or in previous years, we get about 30,000 to 40,000 people throughout the day,” he continued.
City officials said there were just too many people to accommodate them all on the Fayette Courthouse Square, so Ellis and his team are taking the event to the Central Bank Center.
“We’ve basically taken the whole building! So three floors of excitement,” he said of the indoor set-up.
Anytime you open a convention center, there’s a cost associated with doing that type of business, and this will be no different. In previous years, outdoors, the festival was free of charge.
“We couldn’t control (payments and tickets) outside,” Ellis noted. “So it’ll be 10 dollars for anyone ages 18 to 65, five dollars for anybody over that, and free of charge for anybody below 18,” he continued before adding that comped tickets can be made available for those with a need if they call in advance to make those arrangements.
“We want anyone who wants to come to be able to,” he said.
Ellis said the decision to go inside, rather than choosing another larger outdoor space was not taken lightly.
“It’s always important for us to remain visible and out in the public, which is why we fought really hard to keep it downtown, so that people knew we were there. So moving inside was a big decision for us and a hard one,” he explained.
Ellis did say that the indoor facility gives them cover should the weather fail to cooperate, and it’ll allow for more events and activities given the convention center’s sprawling layout.
“It’s not really the venue that makes the event, it’s the people,” he said.
He’s planning to host tens of thousands of people during the 11-hour event this Saturday.
If you’d like to purchase tickets to the Pride Festival click here.
