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St. Pete announces Winter Pride Celebration
FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis reports on the inaugural Winter Pride celebration coming to Downtown St. Petersburg, a week-long event from February 13th to 23rd to honor all facets of the LGBTQ+ community.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The inaugural Winter Pride celebration is coming to Downtown St. Petersburg.
It's a week-long event from Sunday, February 13th-23rd to honor all facets of the LGBTQ+ community.
A poster from the Winter Pride celebration promoting the event.
Executive Director Rob Hall said it had been a year in the making.
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"We started talking about feedback that some of the local businesses have gotten about what can we do to bring them here in the winter so that we can be a year-round destination really in St. Petersburg," Hall explained.
The goal is to market St. Pete as a year-round destination for the community.
"We've been marketing to San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, Provincetown, Chicago all over the place," Hall said. "This is another opportunity to bring the community together in a meaningful way to support one another.
Hall also talked about how important it is for St. Petersburg to display how strong of an LGBTQ+ community the city has developed.
A painted cross walk to show support for LGBTQ+ community in Downtown St. Pete.
"Also to bring our allies out, our family members out to show everyone how much love we have here in St. Petersburg," Hall said.
Winter Pride begins with a kickoff party in the street. Followed by concerts, a multicultural night, a trans celebration, and a ball.
Hall said the main event is Saturday, February 22nd.
"It's going to be called a drag race and will happen in St. Petersburg on Central Avenue. We're going to close down a few blocks of Central Avenue," Hall said. "12 teams of 4-5 drag queens building a soap box derby car in drag, bringing it down the street through an obstacle course, glitter bombs, car wash, reapply the makeup, and then do a performance."
The winner receives $5,000 to donate to the charity of their choice.
Organizers said they've worked with local cultural, trans, and LGBTQ+ groups to craft events for every facet of the community.
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"This is the goal for Winter Pride, which is to have everybody, families, straight people, gay people, trans people, and everyone come together and feel like this is a safe place," Planning Committee member Gabriel Alves said.
"Winter Pride is partnering with the Grand Central District," Chris Arnold, Executive Director of the Grand Central District said, "We are excited for another opportunity to celebrate our wonderful city and bring an entire week of amazing Pride events to the Grand Central District."
Winter Pride is seeking additional sponsors and volunteers. For more information on the event, click here.
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