Shrewsbury Pride celebrations take place this Saturday

The event follows months of planning, building on LGBT+ History Month in February and Pride Month in June, when Ludlow Pride took place and various events were held in Shrewsbury.

It forms part of ongoing activity not only in Shrewsbury but also across the county to raise the visibility of and engage with the LGBTQ+ community in Shropshire.

Shropshire Council is joining in with organisers to celebrate.

Cecilia Motley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for adult social care, public health and communities, said: “I would like to congratulate the organisers of the very first Shrewsbury Pride ahead of what I am sure will be a wonderful celebratory weekend.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage people who may not be aware of the range of ongoing local activities to have a look and see if they would like to join in. In the meantime, well done again to everyone involved.”

Lezley Picton, Leader of the Council, said: “It is an absolute pleasure to see Shrewsbury celebrating the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community in this way. The council is delighted to fly the Rainbow Flag in honour of this occasion.” 

Events

Events include a main stage in The Square, a Pride Parade, an aftershow and more.

The event begins in The Square with the official opening at 11am by the Mayor of Shrewsbury, following this members of the LGBTQ+ community will be sharing what Pride means to them.

At noon, a Pride Parade will take place through the town centre, starting and finishing in The Square.

Then between 1pm - 5pm LGBTQ+ performers will take to the main stage, including drag artists, local theatre groups, singers, musical groups, dance troupes, and more.

Ongoing events include monthly LGBTQ+ family activity sessions at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery – which also runs exhibitions and events that mark historical and contemporary members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Additionally, the Wave Exhibition, featuring photographic portraits of older members of the LGBTQ+ community waving at the camera, will run on the gallery at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury until mid-October. The exhibition aims to raise awareness of older members of the community and the issues that they face. It was co-produced with SAND (Safer Ageing No Discrimination).