SALEM, Va. – Performances brought the stage alive at the Salem Civic Center as thousands of people came through the door on Saturday to celebrate at the Southwest Virginia PrideFest.
“It’s awesome to see everybody not scared of who they are,” attendee Jennifer Lauer said. “You get to be free.”
SWVA PrideFest Host Michael Smith said seeing all of the community support is heartwarming.
“This is one of the largest that I’ve seen and been a part of,” Smith said.
Smith said it hasn’t always been so easy to express himself.
“I’m an older gentleman in the community,” Smith said. “I’ve been doing Pride for about 12 years, and we’re not always so accepting in our community, and today, I’m glad we can have an event like this without any kind of problems. You know, we feel open and free to be who we are.”
The festival welcomed over 100 vendors of all kinds, including healthcare providers like the “Council of Community Services”
“It’s important with our community to have that information about HIV and prevention,” Todd Rothrock with Council of Community Services said. “We’ve got a lot of abilities to be able to prevent HIV now with PrEP and our abilities to suppress the virus, and we’re the key to ending it, and that’s what we do is the free testing.”
From resource booths, to bouncy castles and even a petting zoo, festivalgoers said they’re already looking forward to what’s in store next year.