The Lorain County Pride Fest is a family-friendly event in Oberlin’s Tappan Square where many community organizations and vendors come together to offer crafts, prizes, games and more. There are also live performances at the gazebo and a line of food trucks to offer lunch and snack options.
2024 DATE: TBA
Location: Tappan Square
Downtown Oberlin
Website: https://www.lgbtqloraincounty.com/
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The following post documents my experience on Saturday, June 24, 2023.
Festival Overview
In the heart of Oberlin’s Tappan square, tables were lined along the walking paths for the Lorain County Pride Fest, a family-friendly event where community organizations, companies and vendors came together in celebration.
The majority of the festival took place in the very center of the square where the pathways met and then branched out from there along each of the pathways.
Nearby, a gazebo acted as the entertainment stage and, just a little further away along the main road, food trucks were parked, offering lunch items and snacks.
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Decor and More
The festival did a nice job of decorating the festival grounds with rainbows and positive messages.
Colorful decor and flags could be found on the gazebo and various trees around the grounds.
Even more impressive was the amount of festival participants, festival visitors and even festive pooches who wore Pride friendly attire, rainbow flags and all sorts of accessories to help make the event a very colorful and cheerful event.
But the fashion at Pride Fest wasn’t limited to rainbows.
Sometimes, there was a very thoughtful and elegant outfit that caught the eye…
…not to mention a playful headpiece that put a smile on your face.
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Festival Participants
The majority of tables were made up of participants that represented community organizations or businesses, all offering information on the services they provided as well as some type of freebee.
Freebees consisted of water, candy, Pride flags, Pride stickers, pens, pencils, fans, rainbow slinkies, sunglasses and other swag. Some booths incorporated games in the prizes (ie spin a wheel) while others had arts and crafts whereas the art piece was the prize.
Festival participants included the Lorain County and Greater Cleveland LGTBQ+ organizations, the Oberlin and Lorain Historical Societies, local churches including First Church of Oberlin, the Nord Center, Lorain County Children Services, AAA, Free Mom Hugs, Second Harvest Food Bank, and El Centro – which had a lovable unicorn for photo ops.
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Vendors
Among the festival participants, there were some local vendors among the tables.
Vendors sold cute crocheted animals, jewelry, rainbow printed journals, homemade soaps, and more.
Also present were an artist doing caricatures and a local photographer (Photography by Joe) with a giveaway.
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Food
As mentioned above, food trucks were parked along the road in view of the main festival area.
There were about a handful of food trucks, offering coffee, snacks and treats like mini donuts and locally made ice cream. The Steel Magnolias food truck sold most of the meal selections, including tacos, bowls and a rib dinner.
Meanwhile, among the vendors, where were some fun Pride-friendly treats found, such as rainbow cookies and Gay Proud Krispie treats.
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Entertainment
During the festival, a DJ at the gazebo played a mix of music, except during scheduled drag shows when drag queens and kings either sang karaoke style or lip-synched to songs.
All songs and performances were family friends and enjoyed by guests of all ages.
For your entertainment, I’ll include a clip of both a singing performance of a song “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid…
…as well as a clip from the Broadway show Hamilton.
Enjoy!