A Proud Family of St. Louis

For many, summer is here and each weekend is precious. There are only a few weekends in the summer months and numerous events, fairs, happenings, parades and fests vying for your time, but there is one that is a must see for all families. A fun, exciting and even educational weekend (and the kind of educational event that kids will never see coming. They’re having fun and then BAM!, they’re more educated. Awesome). Yes, mark your calendar for June 26 and take the whole family down to Tower Grove Park for the St Louis PrideFest parade and party.

If you’ve never heard of St. Louis PrideFest, you’re missing out on one of the social events of the year. This is a event that my wife and I have been going to for more than a dozen years. Back before kids, we would go to the parade for adult reasons: shaking hands with the mayor, police chief, fire chief and any elected officials that are proud of St. Louis; celebrating our St. Louisan pride with float after wonderfully decorated float; and educating ourselves with the many information booths set up in the park after the parade. Who knew there were so many great things to learn about our amazing city?

Now we have kids, and it’s better than ever. The kids love the parade: the big groups of motorcycles, the fire trucks and police cars, the floats full of happy people throwing candy and beads to everyone lining up and down Grand Boulevard. There are marching bands, talented performers and lots of fun dance music. Sure, there are lots of shirtless men on the floats but no more than you would see at an afternoon Cardinals game or a day at Six Flags.

And post parade, we head into the park and the fun continues. Besides the numerous informational booths, there is great food, classic cars, and people selling all kinds of goods. And live music! Real live music up on the big stage and BandTogether, a local concert band, not only marches in the parade but plays under the trees afterward. There are few things our kids love more than live music, and PrideFest delivers. From famous classic rockers to entertaining local groups, we can spend hours there and never get bored of the music.

But the best part of the day is the people. Families of all colors and sizes take over the park. The diversity is amazing. It seems that families come from all over the area come to meet up with old friends and make new ones. There isn’t a time or place you can’t see or hear kids running and giggling. And the dogs! Seemingly everyone brings a dog with them to PrideFest. If you are a dog fan, you could spend many hours just picking out the rare breeds filling the park.

So make sure to mark your calendar on June 26 for the St. Louis Gay PrideFest in Tower Grove Park. The parade starts at noon but you will want to stay for a long time after. For the food, the music but mostly for the diverse group of St. Louisians there to enjoy the day. It is an event that can make everyone — gay or straight or somewhere in between — proud to live in St. Louis.

Originally published on Stltoday.com