The Bemidji community will get the chance to experience the third annual Bemidji Pride Festival this weekend.

Since 2021, the LGBTQIA2S+ community in Bemidji has hosted the festival. Events include a family friendly daytime get-together at the Rail River Folk School, drag shows, live music, and more. Festival organizers are hoping the public can come out and take a peek at what the weekend is all about.

“We were actually planning on doing our first Pride in 2020, and prior to that we’ve done Pride in the Park, which is just a little gathering, we’ve had Pride floats in the [4th of July] Parade, but we really wanted to take on our own full Pride festival-type event,” says Bemidji Pride committee member Ben Cahill. “We were gonna [kick] off from 2020 and naturally, that didn’t end up happening, but we went for it in 2021 and we somehow pulled it off, and it’s been a success ever since.”

This year’s events kicked off Friday with a performance by Ada Vox at the Sanford Center. The festival continues Saturday and Sunday at the Rail River Folk School. More information and a list of events can be found on the Bemidji Pride website.

By — Zy'Riah Simmons