Manitou Pride supported by community fundraising for fourth annual festival
[The Pikes Peak Bulletin is one of the organizations sponsoring the Manitou Springs Pride Fest. - Ed.]
Manitou Springs Pride Fest is relying on community fundraising after facing funding challenges this year - but the party is on!
Manitou Pride will be held on Saturday, July 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Soda Springs Park (1016 Manitou Ave.) and is free to attend.
"I'm working with a group of individuals that are absolutely lovely and totally stepped up when we found out we might not be able to have it," Manitou artist Katie Orr said. She is part of an eight-person team organizing this year's festival.
Finding the funding to pull off Manitou Pride this year became a challenge when other organizers stepped aside.
"We were not eligible for the Manitou Arts Culture and Heritage grant," Orr said. "When we found out in April that we were taking on Pride Fest, we realized right away it was going to be 100% community funded."
Manitou Springs Pride Fest costs about $8,000 annually, she said, but the community so far has funded about $5,000 towards the event.
"Our first grant came from the Manitou Springs Women's Club," Orr said. "They stepped up, they gave me a grant without me asking for it, which I also took very seriously because those are amazing women."
Orr said she didn't want to see Manitou Pride go away.
"It was really important to see it remain in the hands of the community," she said.
Over 40 performers applied to be on-stage, but the organizing team was only able to accept about 20 performers total, Orr said.
"I'm just so thankful to the community for putting their support behind us, because we're kind of at a place where we're not sure if we can pay them exactly what we would like to pay them because again it all depends on fundraising," she said.
Several small businesses stepped up to sponsor, and the Manitou Springs Community Foundation gave the organizers a grant as well as allowing Pride Fest to use their sound equipment.
"That's a really big expense that we're saving on," Orr said.
About 50 vendors have signed up for the Rainbow Market, along with food trucks.
"It's a very well-attended festival," she said.
Since parking may be hard to find, Orr said she is suggesting that people park in the newly renovated Dillon parking lot.
Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Ashley Cornelius will be opening the event by performing queer poetry before the drag performers come on stage. Her partner, Christopher Beasley, will be a DJ and emcee.
"Manitou Pride is an incredible show of community and collaboration," Cornelius said. "Queer joy and love are central to this event and demonstrate that Pride is more than just a month, it is a continual expression of joy, resistance and love. Queer lives are beautiful and have always existed in Manitou Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado and beyond."
Entertainment coordinator Hysteria Brooks has been part of Manitou Pride since its first year in 2022.
Drag entertainers with less than two years of experience will perform at noon in the "New Kids on the Block" lineup, followed by "Pillars of Pride" with well-known drag performers coming on stage at 1:30 p.m, she said. Manitou Drum Circle will also be part of the entertainment.
"I think it's important for small towns to showcase pride because queer folks live everywhere and queer folks are your neighbors," she said. "Queer people deserve love and queer people deserve to be celebrated no matter where they live or what background they come from because pride is universal."
Brooks' echoed what Orr said about this pride festival belonging to the people of Manitou.
"It's important the pride in Manitou is created by people from Manitou, because ultimately we celebrate the people that are nearest to us," she said. "It's a community event put on by community organizers of the queer community local to Manitou and the surrounding areas."
All ages are welcome and the entertainment is family-friendly, Orr said.
"We want to continue that small community Manitou vibe and welcome everybody," she said. "I think that everyone needs support and belonging in this world. Art really is able to connect us and this being an artistic festival really gives people the ability to show up as themselves."
Orr recognized that people living in the Pikes Peak region often attend Pikes Peak Pride, Denver Pride and smaller events like Manitou Springs Pride Fest and Fountain Valley Pride throughout the summer.
"I love that we're doing Pride, not only during Pride Month, but like after Pride," she said. "I think we should just keep the rainbow going all year long. Being able to have Manitou as a safe place for that community is a huge priority for all of the members involved."
