Elgin Pride Parade & Festival organizers expecting big crowd for Saturday’s downtown festivities

The Elgin Pride Parade & Festival returns for a third year with plans to be bigger, louder and prouder than ever before, organizers say.

Events start at 11 a.m. Saturday with the parade in downtown Elgin followed by a party in Festival Park, both organized by ELGbtq+ and the city of Elgin.

They’ve added another 10 units to the parade lineup, bringing the total to 60, when it steps off at Prairie Street and Grove Avenue, according to Travis Hooker, president of the ELGbtq+ Board.

The goal is to embrace and show off the city by creating positive, inclusive events open to the entire community, he said.

“One of our big things is to bring recognition to Elgin, specifically our downtown,” Hooker said.

With Saturday’s weather forecast looking good — temperatures are expected to be in the 70s and the chance for rain low — ELGbtq+ is expecting a turnout of about 4,500 people, building on the 4,000 who came out it their inaugural year, he said. Last year, rain kept event attendance down to about 2,000, he said.

New parade participants include Walmart/Sam’s Club, Footprints in Recovery, Marshmallow Moon Sound Bath Salon and the National Alliance on Mental Illness Fox Valley, a newly formed chapter in northern Kane County, Hooker said.

And there are a lot of groups returning, including Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gay (PFLAG), the Girl Scouts, and numerous Elgin churches and organizations.

The festival will feature 14 food trucks, 70 vendors and live music, with the headlining act being “Crocodile Rockstar” Beazley Phillips, an Elton John impersonator.

Because it wants to be inclusive to all, the festival will have a specially designed sensory-safe area for those in the autism spectrum, Hooker said.

The official afterparty will feature an appearance by Orion Story, a contestant on season 14 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” at the Martini Room in downtown Elgin. Other performers will include Gina D’Licious, Sativa Diamond and Mark Love.

National Pride Month events have been experiencing a decrease in corporate support, but that’s not the case in Elgin, where Walmart has signed on to be a sponsor, Hooker said.

There’s been a lot of fear because of changes coming out of Washington, but those actions have “helped galvanize the community” here, said Hooker, senior partner with CDO Executives. His firm trains police officers and government agencies on how to better interact with diverse and marginalized communities.

“They’ve found the fire to rally behind something,” he said. “I see more interest and involvement now. We have lost some corporate sponsors but the community has come together.”

Hooker said he believes the increased support shows that not everything has to be based on “far left or far right” viewpoints. While issues like transgender athletes can divide communities, including the trans community, most people are somewhere in the middle and support basic human rights, he said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.