Greenwood to host second Pride Festival this weekend

When it came to planning this year’s festival, Greenwood Pride’s organizers thought about how they could improve from last year’s block party.

They did that, and then some.

Last year, Greenwood Pride and Progress hosted the city’s first-ever Pride festival. The organization was started by Heather and Matthew Smith in the summer of 2019. The one-day event was a block party that took place at Craig Park where community members of all ages could visit different vendors, eat food and enjoy live entertainment.

This year’s festival is a whole other story.

1 of 6

A new nonprofit, Greenwood Indiana Pride Inc. — which was started by John Michael Jones — is hosting this year’s festival. The event is also no longer a single-day affair, but is now a Pride weekend, with events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday though features the main event: the Pride Festival.

The festival will also now take place at Woodmen Park, near Greenwood Community High School, instead of Craig Park.

On Friday, the festival weekend kicks off with “Live from Connie-Wood,” a cabaret taking place at 416 Wabash in Indianapolis. The cabaret features a dance comedy performance, with RuPaul’s Drag Race breakout star Love Connie as the featured performer. Other drag performers will also perform at the cabaret, organizers say.

The main event comes on Saturday — the Pride Festival at Woodmen Park. Continuing from last year, the festival will feature food trucks, local artist booths, a silent auction, live music and a kid’s area with face painting, and other activities.

Due to a larger space for Saturday’s festival, organizers were able to add a whole slew of new activities for the community to try, including a petting zoo, a dunk tank, magicians and carnival games.

A hot air balloon ride will also be available for free on Saturday, weather permitting. If the balloon is not able to go up into the skies, the balloon will still be blown up and people can still see it get fired off, said Suzanne Fortenberry, director of Greenwood Pride.

The hot air balloon is being made possible by a friend of Fortenberry’s who owns a hot air balloon company and Soaring Dreams, a nonprofit. This friend offered to bring their hot air balloon to Pride for free, she said.

“He’s going to take people up for free,” Fortenberry said. “Who does that?”

There will also be health screenings, a drag show, and both wine and beer at Saturday’s event. Official Greenwood Pride merchandise will be available for purchase, organizers say.

The festival weekend ends on Sunday with a drag show brunch at Revery in Greenwood. Love Connie will host and emcee the event, with several other drag stars making appearances as well, organizers say.

Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial is the title sponsor for this year’s pride festival.

The financial services nonprofit got involved with Greenwood Pride for the first time last year after the company requested to have a booth, said Lucy Bartley, a financial representative for Modern Woodmen and the event coordinator for Greenwood Pride.

This year, the nonprofit decided to go bigger after Bartley informed her boss she was involved with the planning of this year’s Pride Festival. Her boss’s first reaction was to ask about being a title sponsor. Since then Bartley has received many questions about why she is involved with Pride, she said.

“I’m an ally,” Bartley said. “I believe in this organization. I believe we’re all … humans; we’re all part of the same struggle we go through. It doesn’t matter what we identify as.”

Other sponsors include Endress + Hauser, Mallow Run Winery and Mashcraft Brewing. Mallow Run is the official winery for this year’s pride, organizers say.

Both Mallow Run and Mashcraft are creating Pride-themed drinks for the event as well. Mallow Run released a white blend wine, dubbed Equality, and Mashcraft has unveiled a Greenwood Pride beer, Fortenberry said.

Mashcraft’s brew will be unveiled at a pre-Pride Festival party at Mashcraft Brewing in Greenwood on Wednesday.

This year’s Pride Festival is designed to be as inclusive as possible. For example, Saturday’s festival will have six sign language interpreters on-site for people who need help ordering something or finding out information about what’s happening at the festival. Organizers wanted to have this last year, but weren’t able to due to budget constraints, Fortenberry said.

“We’re really trying to make sure that everyone in the community has access,” she said.

There will be more than 100 different vendors and booths at Saturday’s festival. With many of the booths, Greenwood Pride wanted to highlight opportunities where people could help, Bartley said.

Among the booths is Hope Pantry, a food pantry that does not discriminate and gives out food with no questions asked. Festival attendees will be able to donate to the pantry while they are at the festival, Fortenberry said.

For this year’s Pride, organizers rented a dunk tank and offered several nonprofits 30-40 minute spots throughout the day to raise as much money as they can through a dunking contest. At the end of the time, Greenwood Pride will count up the proceeds. The nonprofit and Greenwood Pride will each get a part and if the nonprofit raises the most funds at the end of the festival, they will get to keep all of their funds, she said.

“It gives them visibility as a nonprofit, but it also helps them raise money and have a little fun for a little bit of the time,” Fortenberry said.

There will also be a booth from Greenwood High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance, and the organization has invited alliances from other area high schools to join in as well. Having these booths at Pride provides a perfect opportunity for parents to learn more about what a Gay-Straight Alliance is, Fortenberry said.

Organizers have been amazed by the response they’ve received from the community ahead of this year’s Pride Festival. Nearby residents are excited to see the festival, Fortenberry said.

The city and Greenwood schools have been helpful throughout the planning process, and Greenwood police are planning to provide security at the event, she said.

“I could not be more proud of our community coming together on this,” Fortenberry said.

The festival is open to all and everyone is invited, regardless of whether you live in Greenwood or anywhere else in the county. The festival will be a family-friendly event with a friendly atmosphere, she said.

“Everyone is welcome. Everybody,” Fortenberry said. “Every member of the community is invited; every member of Johnson County. It’s definitely not just Greenwood.”

IF YOU GO

Mashcraft Brewing and Greenwood Pride Tapping Party

Where: Mashcraft Greenwood, 1140 N. State Road 135, Greenwood

When: 7-9 p.m. Wednesday

Listen to the music of Allie Jean and grab a pint of the new official Greenwood Pride beer.