COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Midlands is celebrating 34 years of Pride with the Famously Hot South Carolina Pride Festival, which kicked off Friday with a parade in downtown Columbia.
"To celebrate, to experience queer joy. That's something that we talk about a lot, is queer joy and queer resilience," said Dylan Gunnels, president of Famously Hot South Carolina Pride. "Oftentimes, when you hear stories, they might be in a negative light, or we might be focusing on negative legislation or negative experiences. This is our night."
The Famously Hot South Carolina Pride parade celebrated 34 years of Pride in South Carolina. The "Get Lit" parade was a big event, with hundreds of participants helping decorate floats, dressing in their festive clothes, or just showing up for a purpose.
“We want to be able to create events and create an organization that is sustainable, that is long-lasting, an organization that's making a truly, deeply impactful mark on the state," said Gunnels. "And then we can give it away to other people to do the same. And so yeah, to put on events like this and to do this work, it's hard, it is tiring, and it is incredibly worth it, and we love every minute."
The non-profit consists of 16 people, and the whole team worked hard to make this parade happen. Many groups were ready to participate.
“It feels amazing to have an event like this in Columbia because so many of our communities in outlying areas can't really have pride events," said Julie Turner, S.C. state chapter leader of Free Mom Hugs. "So many of them do travel here. And this is a huge event. It is a huge revenue generator for downtown, and it is so meaningful in so many ways."
“I think, especially being in South Carolina, it's important that, you know, people know that there's a community here," said John White, a Midlands Men's Chorus member. "And you don't just have to go to a big city to celebrate Pride. You can do it right here in your backyard, and it's, it's really nice to see the city, you know, come out to support everybody."
The parade kicked off at sunset and traveled down Laurel Street. Tonight's celebration also included live music, RuPaul's Drag Race Hour and more than 80 LGBTQ+-owned businesses.
"Even though this is the event that we do in the Midlands every year, we have a focus on making sure that every single queer person across the state feels like they belong, knows that they are loved, and knows where to get connected," Gunnels said. "And so, that's our hope is to do that through all of the other organizations that already exist."
Non-profit officials said this is an all-year planning process, and they will meet in November to discuss the calendar for 2025.