STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) – The State College Pride festival is set to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and the events start this weekend.

Pride is a collaborative effort between the Centre LGBT+, the State College Borough and the Downtown State College Improvement District. The weekend will be chock-full of things for everybody including a parade, dancing, food trucks and more!

Cat Cook, The Executive Director for the Centre LGBTQA Support Network, is looking forward to the seeing all of the communities hard work.

“We have more than tripled since last year which is super exciting,” Cook said. “We all really collaborate and come together and it’s such a show of unity and it just screams inclusivity.

Schedule of events:

Friday, June 9

• Pride Fun Fair: Games, a DJ, face painting, a balloon artist, crafts and more (State College Municipal Building: 4-8 p.m.) Purchase a wristband for $20 for unlimited chances to win prizes at any of the exciting carnival games, or purchase tickets to play for $2 each. (Proceeds to benefit Centre LGBTQA Support Network)
• PSU Alumni Reception (The Lobby: 5 – 7 p.m.)
• Congregation Brit Shalom’s Pride Sabbat (Sabbath) service (7 p.m.)

Saturday, June 10

• Drag Queen Story Hour featuring Amethyst of PSU Opulence (3 Dots: 11 a.m.)
• State College Pride Parade featuring cars, floats, bikes, walkers and more (3 p.m.)
• State College Pride Festival featuring speakers, music, dancing and food (Sidney Friedman Park 5 – 8 p.m.) Anchor & Arrow will be playing
• Youth Pride Party for grades 6 -12 (SCPC: 7 p.m.)
• 21+ Pride After Party (Chumley’s, Zeno’s and The Lobby: 7 p.m.)

Sunday, June 11

• The Producers will be playing at Mishler Theatre- Altoona (2 p.m.). Get your tickets here!
• Pride Alleycat Bike Race (Sidney Friedman is the starting location: 3 p.m.)
• Reading of Jane Chambers’ Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (Tempest Productions: 3 p.m.)

Food trucks at the event include Brazilian Munchies, Classic Cones, Rebelz, Savory Station, Juana’s, Warren’s and Auntie Anne’s. A percentage of proceeds from the food trucks will benefit the Centre LGBT+.

There will also be vendors tabling in front of the Borough Building and Street. There will also be local businesses competing in the 2023 Pride Storefront Decorating Contest. The public is invited to walk throughout downtown and vote for their favorite. You can more information about the contest and how to vote on the Centre LGBTQA website.

Find more information about 2023 State College Pride on the Centre LGBTQA website.

The organizers of State College Pride have also released a statement about the concern over air quality.

As the organizers of State College Pride please know we are aware of and monitoring in coordination with the Centre Region Office of Emergency Management the conditions of the air quality in State College. Currently, there are no changes to plans in events for this weekend. The air quality is projected to be better by Friday afternoon. This will be monitored closely so the community is not putting their health at risk to participate.

Individuals may monitor the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow interactive map at https://fire.airnow.gov/. This provides the air quality index along with recommendations on actions to take to stay healthy.

Centre LGBT+