June is nationally recognized as Pride Awareness Month. Rock Springs will hold its first ever Pride Festival on Saturday. It joins other cities similar in size that already hold festivals.
“We're obviously one of the larger communities in the state and so having a presence, I think, is important in a community our size in Wyoming,” Chad Banks, one of the organizers of the event, said.
The LGBTQ+ community in Rock Springs has already held different Pride events during June in recent years, so Banks said a festival seemed like the next best step. This April, organizers came together to make the festival happen this year.
“This one kind of came together pretty quickly. But during each meeting, we've had more and more people, we have up to about 20 people involved now,” Banks said.
Banks said the hope is that everyone in the community can come together and feel comfortable.
“We're trying to be more visible, trying to be more accepting and trying to make folks aware in the community about the LGBTQ plus community,” he said.
The festival is open to all ages and families. Rock Springs joins other communities that host annual pride festivals including Casper, Lander, Riverton, Laramie and Jackson.