What to do at Iowa City Pride Festival throughout the week

Inclusion, visibility and neighborhood are the hallmarks of Pleasure occasions, and are available Saturday, June 18, Iowa Metropolis Pleasure Competition shall be no completely different as one of many longest-running occasions within the metropolis returns.

Forward of Saturday’s all-day celebration, right here’s a have a look at what to anticipate from this yr’s 51st Pleasure Competition, which begins Tuesday with a bar crawl and features a ballroom competitors, movie exhibiting and extra all through the week.

Saturday’s Pleasure Parade shall be led by a unity march, which is able to culminate on the important stage in downtown Iowa Metropolis, the place Alisabeth Von Presley, a Cedar Rapids pop singer from “American Music Contest,” will kick off Pleasure with a gap efficiency.

The route begins at Faculty Inexperienced Park with lineup at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Final yr, Iowa Metropolis Pleasure adopted a unity march as a substitute of a parade to point out that contributors will proceed combating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and others.

“It was actually magical,” Blake Shaw, Pleasure leisure director, instructed the Press-Citizen. “Because the individuals are developing from the parade, they’re holding their banners. We’re chanting issues that we’re actually pleased with, and once you come as much as the stage and there is music occurring, it is like uplifting music. It is simply imagined to get you actually going.”

Nearly all of the performers are native, Shaw mentioned.

One shall be Christine Moad, who goes by the moniker Miss Christine.

Moad is a singer-songwriter and bassist primarily based exterior of Iowa Metropolis whose sound delves from indie rock to blues and soul.

The previous Nashville musician, whose pronouns are they/them, explores their genderqueer identification of their music, leading to items that problem stereotypes and expectations related to gender and sexuality.

Moad went to the Berklee Faculty of Music in Boston and lived in Nashville. They mentioned it wasn’t till they got here again to Iowa in 2017 that they had been capable of absolutely embrace who they’re, and be who they’re publicly.

“Those that I inform which might be very shocked that there is such a neighborhood in Iowa Metropolis, however there actually is. And if I hadn’t moved again right here, I haven’t got any clue the place I might be at this time on this journey of the self,” they mentioned.

Moad’s forthcoming album, “Bittersweet,” shall be carried out at Iowa Metropolis Pleasure. The album was recorded nearly because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Moad mentioned they consider it as a time capsule of the pandemic, one thing they’ll look again on in many years to come back.

“Bittersweet” explores “the gamut of human emotion,” Moad mentioned, from grief to existentialism to like songs.

Iowa Metropolis Pleasure shall be Moad’s first stay present with a full band since September. They’re “excited” to play on the pageant, in addition to attend it for the primary time.

Moad mentioned that anti-transgender laws handed all through America and in Iowa — most lately, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a invoice prohibiting transgender ladies and ladies from competing in feminine sports activities supplied by Iowa faculties, schools and universities — it’s extra necessary now than ever for them to be “out and carry out authentically as I actually am,” making their efficiency at Iowa Metropolis Pleasure all of the extra impactful. 

“It is simply so necessary for individuals like me to have these alternatives and to be celebrated at an occasion like Pleasure,” they mentioned.

Iowa Metropolis singer-songwriter Alyx Rush may also carry out on the pageant, sharing the stage with Shaw on bass, Justin LeDuc on drums and Jarrett Purdy on keys.

The R&B musician carried out at Mission Creek Competition in April and can carry out on the Des Moines music pageant 80/35 in July. 

Saturday will mark Rush’s first Iowa Metropolis Pleasure efficiency, a chance that he sought due to how the neighborhood has helped him develop into himself and his artistry, the musician instructed the Press-Citizen in an electronic mail.

“It feels nice to point out them what they’ve impressed and proceed to present me,” he mentioned. “I need to signify my LGBTQ+ neighborhood and present the youthful eyes that it’s OK to be precisely who you might be, particularly the LGBTQ+ individuals of coloration.”

Bar crawl, poolside picnic and a film: Iowa Metropolis Pleasure festivities forward of Saturday

Tuesday:

Huge Homosexual Bar Crawl kicks off the practically week’s price of festivities, introduced by Iowa Metropolis Pleasure and Studio 13.

Begin at Shakespeare’s for a pre-party dinner and socializing occasion from 5-8 p.m. Then, head to the remainder of these stops for a whole bar crawl expertise:

• 8 p.m.: Studio 13/Joystick
• 9 p.m.: Joe’s Place
• 10 p.m.: Micky’s
• 11 p.m.: Sports activities Column
• Midnight: Deadwood
• 1 a.m. (till bar closes): Gabe’s

Wednesday:

Huge Grove Brewery will host “Rainbow Connection: A Night time of Conversations, Ballroom and Neighborhood” from 6-9 p.m. The occasion will start with a presentation on LGBTQ+ historical past, tradition and points that have an effect on the neighborhood adopted by a dialog and a ballroom competitors.

At 7 p.m., Sanctuary Pub will host Pleasure Trivia. At 10 p.m., Studio 13 will host a free open stage present for anybody to carry out.

Thursday:

FilmScene on the Chauncey is internet hosting a exhibiting of “Paris Is Burning,” a 1990 documentary about drag queens and drag tradition in New York Metropolis within the mid- to late-Eighties.

“Paris Is Burning” begins at 7 p.m.

Studio 13 will host Physique & Soul Drag Present at 10:30 p.m.

Friday:

Iowa Metropolis Pleasure and Iowa Metropolis Parks and Recreation Division are presenting Pleasure Picnic on the Pool from 5-8 p.m. at Metropolis Park Pool. There shall be a free neighborhood picnic catered by North Dodge Hy-Vee and the Iowa Metropolis Public Library’s Bookmobile shall be current. 

Saturday:

The 51st annual Iowa Metropolis Pleasure returns.

• Midday: Iowa Metropolis Pleasure parade
• 12:30 p.m.: Alisabeth Von Presley
• 12:45 p.m.: Opening remarks with Mayor Bruce Teague
• 1 p.m.: The Japanese Iowa Quire
• 1:30 p.m.: Draglings from United Motion for Youth
• 2 p.m.: Karaoke Winners Showcase
• 2:30 p.m.: Miss Christine
• 3:20 p.m.: Pleasure Royalty Pageant winner performances
• 4:35 p.m.: Alyx Rush
• 5:30 p.m.: I.C. Kings
• 6:30 p.m. Bawdy Bawdy Ha Ha Burlesque Troupe
• 7:30 p.m.: Isaac Jordan
• 8:30 p.m.: Studio 13 Presents: Landon Cider, Chy Enne, Monica Beverly Hills

All performances may have an American Signal Language interpreter to carry out the songs in actual time. There shall be roughly 90 distributors at this yr’s occasion. 

Paris Barraza covers leisure, life-style and humanities on the Iowa Metropolis Press-Citizen. Attain her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or (319) 519-9731. Observe her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.