Chicago Pride Weekend kicks off with Pride Fest

Fri. June 25, 2010

The two-day festival is the prelude to the 41st annual Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday, June 27

Chicago, IL - Chicago Pride Fest, a two-day prelude to Sunday's 41st annual Chicago Pride Parade, kicked off Friday afternoon on a near perfect Summer afternoon in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.

Now in it's eighth year, the street fest will showcase a large assortment of vendors, arts, food and an eclectic line-up of entertainment on two stages, including one dedicated to some of Chicago's favorite performers in the LGBT community.

Organizers of Pride Fest this week announced the addition of a third entertainment stage to be located on Waveland Avenue between Halsted and Broadway.

The all-new DJ entertainment stage, sponsored by Scarlet, will feature Scarlet's DJ lineup including CrossFader Kings' Matt Roan, DJ Katy, DJ Nick Phoenix, DJ dolo, Michigan's DJ Jimmy B, Madison's Tony R and more. DJ's will be pumping tunes from 4 to 10 p.m. today and 1 to 10 p.m. on Saturday night.

Feature performers on the two entertainment stages include Thea Austin (Friday, 9 p.m.), Tiffany (Friday, 6:30 p.m.), Taylor Dayne (Saturday, 2:30 p.m.), Amber (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.), Frenchie Davis (Saturday, 7 p.m.), Sophia May (Saturday, 7 p.m.) and Inaya Day (Saturday, 8:30 p.m.).

Other crowd favorites include the Chicago Spirit Brigade (Friday, 7:45 p.m.), The Joans (Friday, 4 p.m.), Rock Candy (Friday, 6 p.m.), Windy City Cowboys (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.), Wedding Banned (Saturday, 8 p.m.) and Sixteen Candles (Friday, 8 p.m).

Another fun-filled highlight at this year's Chicago Pride Fest will be a Pet Pride Parade hosted by Miss Foozie. Everyone's welcome to bring their dogs, cats and other animal kingdom friends to this festive procession that starts at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, from the south stage area.

The two-day festival is situated at Halsted and Waveland streets. The festival is open until 10 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. - 10 p.m on Saturday. There is a $7 suggested gate donation.

Chicago Pride Fest is hosted by the Northalsted Business Alliance, the same group behind the Northalsted Market Days festival which takes place the weekend of August 7-8, 2010.

The annual Chicago Pride Parade is Sunday, June 27 stepping off at Noon from Halsted and Belmont.

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