Set for June 17 is the first ever Niles Pride Festival. Organizer Hailey Colpitts tells us she helped form the Niles Pride Committee, which is staging the event at Riverfront Park from 7 to 9 p.m. She started thinking about having a Pride event after seeing Buchanan and Three Rivers are holding their own events.
“They’re kind of similar in size and location, and I thought that it was important that we have one in Niles,” Colpitts said. “A lot of the LGBTQ community here now go to St. Joe or South Bend where the community is larger, and I feel like as the population here grows, the LGBTQ population is going to grow, too. I feel like this is a good place for us to meet each other and to find a space where we feel safe with one another.”
Colpitts says the Niles Pride Festival will feature food trucks, drinks, live music, activities for the kids, and a family friendly drag show. They’re also raising money to screen a movie. Anyone who wants to help with that can make a donation through the festival’s EventBrite page. The Niles Pride Festival will be fee to attend.
