While cities across the nation canceled their Pride parades earlier this summer, Madison-based LGBTQ+ organization OutReach plans on bringing entertainment, speakers, and hosts to the comfort of your home.
“Madison’s PRIDE event is always in August. We are different than a lot of places that have their events in June,” said Dana Pellebon, OutReach board member and chair of the Magic Pride Festival.
Because of the COVID 19 pandemic and Dane County event restrictions, OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center will host their second Magic Pride Festival as a virtual event this upcoming Sunday, August 16 from 1 to 6 pm. Pellebon said guests will also have the opportunity to browse the virtual vendor area to get information and purchase goods, services, and items for the rest of the month.
“We are excited about our lineup. We have a drag. We have storytime. We have some rope bondage somewhere in there,” she said.
The entertainment lineup features rapper K.I.L.O. aka Skitlz; Singers Felix Ramsey (from American Idol Season 10), Dequadray, and Nazty; drag entertainment from Cyrus K Stratton, Alexandro Rox, Persephone B Diamond, Anya Knees, Jasper Madison, Vanilla Diamond, PupStar Dew, and Mettahdroid. The evening will also feature music by DJs FemmeNoir, Saint Saunter, and Sunstone. There will also be speakers and MCs from the QTPOC Committee, UW Gender & Sexuality Center, Orgullo Latinx LGBT+, and OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center.
“There’s a celebration to the leather community which we’ve never really featured before, so I’m excited to see that,” Pellebon said.
She explained OutReach contacted a diverse set of performers and organizations for the event. Pellebon said Madison’s drag community has really showed up.
“That was an intentional move on OutReach’s part to uplift the BIPOC voices in our community,” Pellebon said.
The Magic Pride Festival is not a small event but fortunately, some of the coordinators are already familiar with how to pull off a big entertainment event. Pellebon, who is also a part of Madison’s theatre community, said most residents don’t get to see a lot of diverse talent within Madison. She calls Madison a “small, big town.”
“We have so many talented people in our community it is unreal, across the board,” Pellebon said.
The event will stream on the Magic Pride website as well as the OutReach Facebook page and Youtube.
