A rainbow of colors decorated the streets on Saturday as Columbia hosted the annual SC Pride Festival and Parade.
This year marked the 24th anniversary of the festival and included numerous activities for the attenders to to participate in.
Main Street opened in front of the State House with a grand performance stage that featured World-class entertainment, such as the band Berlin.
While continuing down Main Street, festival attenders were greeted by dozens of vendors ranging from food to floral art design to face painting. The festival also included a petting zoo with goats and an alpaca, camel rides, and a
Farther up the street, performers, volunteers, and participants prepared for the parade that would begin on Main, turn left onto Taylor Street, right onto Sumter Street, and conclude on Gervais Street in front of the State House.
The parade began with a police escort and included multiple floats such as Time Warner Cable and the 20th Participants were placed in alphabetical order.
Many participants in the parade rode through downtown Columbia on roller skates, motorcycles, and classic cars. Parade performers wore outfits, along with accessories, that portrayed the colors of the rainbow.
As the parade came to a close, a group of protestors stood outside the State House holding signs to express their beliefs.
“The protestors were lining the street on Gervais, but our supporters were lining the other side. The supporters were like four rows deep, and the protesters were all in single file,” said Mason Branham, BGLSA President.
The ending of the parade ignited more excitement as people began to join in on the dance party that broke out in front of the main stage. Main Street echoed with the sound of upbeat music.
Numerous hours of preparation and planning went into putting this event together. Volunteers, including students and adults, offered their time and effort to help the execution of this event.
“BGLSA really spearheaded efforts in the college community. BGLSA really spearheaded everybody from 18-21; it’s not just USC students here today. We have PC, Midlands, everybody,” Branham said.
Volunteers and USC’s BGLSA organization spent Friday evening setting up for the festivities.
“I have about 207 volunteers working today that submitted an online application,” said first year Volunteer Coordinator Brenton Lueras.
Volunteers helped direct people on where to go, answer questions, and put on events.
“I did it last year, and I wanted to come back because I liked helping people out,” said Brandon Brazell, a second year graphic design major.
The SC Pride Festival has been an event to continuously grow by the year as the word spreads and more people travel to the heart of downtown Columbia.
“Probably your very first pride is the most exhilarating. You’re going to a place where you feel accepted and you can just be you. It’s not every day on campus that you can be around people who support you,” Brazell said.
Between the parade, the music, and the performers, the SC Pride Festival and Parade brought out a large crowd to the heart of Columbia.