To advance ‘unity and visibility,’ Macon Pride plans six events for its 2021 festival
After taking a hiatus in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, Macon Pride has seven events planned for the 2021 celebration, scheduled between Sept. 20-26.
“I’m ecstatic about this year’s Pride. We’ve worked so hard to bring a festival to the city that I think that everybody can be proud of,” said Scott Mitchell, founder and president of Macon Pride.
Macon Pride held its inaugural festival in 2019, the first Pride festival in Macon in nearly 20 years. The original plan was to wait until 2020, but organizers decided to go ahead and host a festival in 2019 due to recent murders of transgender and gay people.
The first festival was a one-day event in Third Street Park with several speakers, music, a drag show and games.
This year’s festival will expand over a week with seven events and include cabarets, dance parties and a picnic.
“We really wanted to advance the unity, visibility and self-esteem of people here in Middle Georgia. We wanted to promote a positive image to the community through these activities and the services that we’re going to be doing,” Mitchell said.
At the Macon Pride Festival on Sept. 25, Mitchell said they will have HIV testing, a COVID-19 vaccination site and several LGBT-friendly organizations to share what services they have to offer.
Most of the festival activities will be outside, but as the festival gets closer, Mitchell said organizers will have more concrete plans for health and safety precautions.
For the Grand Opera House’s Broadway Does Pride: A Cabaret event, they have opened up two showtimes for the event to allow social distancing in the theater, he said.
Hosting a Macon Pride Festival improves visibility and ultimately acceptance in the Middle Georgia community, Mitchell said.
“We’re part of this community. We’re woven into the very fabric of Macon and Middle Georgia, and it’s just wonderful to be able to celebrate that,” he said.
Here is the lineup for this year’s Macon Pride.
Broadway Does Pride: A Cabaret
Macon Pride will kick off with “an upbeat cabaret-style performance” at the Grand Opera House called Broadway Does Pride: A Cabaret. Macon Little Theatre and Theatre Macon are partnering with the Grand Opera House to show the entire Macon theater community supports Pride, according to the Facebook event post.
- Date: Sept. 20
- Time: 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
- Location: The Grand Opera House, 651 Mulberry St.
- Cost: $10
“In The Name Of Love” Beer Release Party
Dress for Fun/Sing with Pride
The next event for Macon Pride will be an outdoor cabaret featuring McKinley Starks and Yutoya Leon.
- Date: Sept. 23
- Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
- Location: Third Street Park
- Cost: Free
Macon Pride: House Party
Macon Pride’s House Party event will be a drag show full of local entertainers and a few special guests, including Lala Ri from season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Miss Congeniality.
- Date: Sept. 24
- Time: 8 p.m.
- Location: Hargray Capitol Theatre
- Cost: $15 for general admission
Macon Pride Festival
DJ B3 will be hosting the Macon Pride Festival in downtown Macon where LGBTQIA+ families and allies can gather and celebrate.
- Date: Sept. 25
- Time: 12-5 p.m.
- Location: Third Street Park
- Cost: Free
Progressive Decades Dance Party
The Progressive Decades Dance Party will also be hosted by DJ B3 and beer and wine will be provided by JBA, a downtown cocktail bar.
- Date: Sept. 25
- Time: 7-10 p.m.
- Location: Third Street Park
- Cost: Free
Worship Service and Family Picnic
The final Macon Pride event will be a worship service on Coleman Hill followed by a picnic. People should bring their own picnic basket.
- Date: Sept. 26
- Time: 12-3 p.m.
- Location: Coleman Hill Park
- Cost: Free
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 11:05 AM.