Ellsworth PrideFest returns June 11
May 30, 2023
ELLSWORTH — Ellsworth PRIDE volunteers are planning the third annual PrideFest. PrideFest 2023 is a free, family-friendly event that will take place on Sunday, June 11, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Knowlton Park.
Headlining the festival will be the Curbside Queens. Warming up the stage will be The Wayside, an Ellsworth-based band, and Midnight Rose, of Hermon. GiGi Gabor of Curbside Queens and Rachel Yves, an Ellsworth Pride volunteer, will emcee the event.
Familiar food trucks and vendors will be at the park with refreshments for sale. Local LGBTQIA+ community members will have the chance to mingle and build connections as well as enjoy music and personalities on stage.
Ellsworth Pride volunteers are grateful to the festival’s major sponsors: Maine Community Foundation, Desert Harvest, Hannaford, Northern Light Maine Coast and Blue Hill hospitals, and Healthy Acadia.
The first Ellsworth PrideFest took place in 2021, inspired by passionate youth voices from Ellsworth High School’s Gender/Sexuality Diversity Alliance (GSDA). PrideFest 2021 celebrated the rainbow crosswalks at the high school and middle school and reunited the community in the wake of the pandemic.
“It provided a welcoming and joyful space for LGBTQ+ individuals and the local community members to honor Pride month,” said organizers. “The first PrideFest in Ellsworth created a new tradition of acknowledging the importance of equal justice, opportunity, and expression for and by the LGBTQ+ community, as well as an occasion for all community members to enjoy Pride festivities together.”
For more information, visit heartofellsworth.org/pride or email Ellsworth PRIDE at ellsworthprideme@gmail.com and follow Ellsworth PRIDE on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates about the festival and other Pride Month events.
Heart of Ellsworth is the fiduciary agent of Ellsworth Pride.