Mid-MO PrideFest turns Columbia rainbow colors in 18th year, despite delay

Charles Dunlap, Columbia Daily Tribune
·3 min read
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Community members painted downtown rainbow colors this weekend as Columbia celebrated the Mid-MO PrideFest.

Festivities kicked off in earnest Saturday afternoon after a one-hour delay, as PrideFest organizers worked out a compromise apparently related to permit concerns from the Columbia Fire Department.

The festival continued through Sunday, including the first-ever Pride Parade down Broadway.

"This is our 18th year in Columbia doing PrideFest," Janet Davis, PrideFest board president, said during the opening ceremony for the event, thanking Rose Music Hall for hosting, the volunteers for working and the PrideFest board for leading. "It used to just be a little picnic 18 years ago.

"Over the years, this community has rallied together and has been so wonderful to grow to what we are."

At the heart of the festival are its 120 vendors, Davis said.

Patrons and employees of Columbia LGBTQ bar Arch and Column donned colorful balloon harnesses Sunday as part of the inaugural Mid-MO PrideFest parade in downtown Columbia.
Patrons and employees of Columbia LGBTQ bar Arch and Column donned colorful balloon harnesses Sunday as part of the inaugural Mid-MO PrideFest parade in downtown Columbia.

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During the kickoff from the Rose Music Hall stage, Davis and Steven DeVore, past president, presented the community award to Andrea Mayes for her volunteerism with PrideFest as its operations chair.

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe then welcomed attendees to PrideFest, highlighting achievements by the city and its commitment to being a welcoming community for LGBTQ individuals.

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"Columbia works to be an inclusive environment in maybe not the easiest state in which to do that," she said, adding even though the city regularly receives a 100 score from the Human Rights Campaign Municipality Equality Index, there still is room for improvement.

"Our Columbia Commission on Human Rights is working on issues for homelessness and fair housing because we know our LGBTQ population is disproportionately impacted in those areas," Buffaloe said.

A view up Orr Street toward Walnut Street of the myriad vendors set up Saturday at Mid-MO PrideFest.
A view up Orr Street toward Walnut Street of the myriad vendors set up Saturday at Mid-MO PrideFest.

She is excited for next year when the city turns in its score sheet to HRC as Columbia now has an openly LGBTQ council member in Roy Lovelady, representing the Third Ward.

"Thank you all for coming here today, and I appreciate the irony that it was the city that caused the delay. Thank you for still letting me provide a welcome," Buffaloe said.

Blessings were offered by members of Columbia's faith community, with pastors and other representatives from churches including Rock Bridge Christian, Congregation Beth Shalom, Mizzou Hillel Jewish Campus Center, Calvary Episcopal, First Baptist, Community United Methodist and Bethel Baptist.

The choir of Bethel Baptist performed a song in welcome.

The City of Fountains Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from Kansas City offered a final Pride blessing. Among the group was Novice Molly Alice Minx, who works as a neonatal intensive care nurse. Novices have to complete a project, which in Minx's case is creating custom baby blankets for NICU children. The City of Fountains sisters were selling buttons to help raise funds for supplies.

Novice Molly Alice Minx, center, with the City of Fountains Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, reads a blessing Saturday for the Mid-MO PridFest during opening ceremonies at Rose Music Hall.
Novice Molly Alice Minx, center, with the City of Fountains Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, reads a blessing Saturday for the Mid-MO PridFest during opening ceremonies at Rose Music Hall.

Minx spoke on bodily autonomy and the right to choose to have an abortion.“I know that not every baby should be carried to term. I know that a person's decision is that. Her decision. His decision. Their decision. Not mine. Not a group of people who couldn't pass an anatomy quiz," Minx said, while offering Pride-related reminders.

"May the strength of our community sustain us. May the power of love preserve us. May the hands of the divine protect us. May the valor of John Waters direct us. May the love of Pride go with us this day and forever.

"Blessed be autonomy. Blessed be consent. Blessed be tips. Blessed be dissent."

Marchers in the first-ever Mid-MO PrideFest parade in downtown Columbia hold balloon letters Sunday that spell "love."
Marchers in the first-ever Mid-MO PrideFest parade in downtown Columbia hold balloon letters Sunday that spell "love."

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Please consider subscribing to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Mid-MO Pridefest celebrates 18th year in Columbia