ALLENTOWN, PA — Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center is excited to announced details for the 26th annual Lehigh Valley Pride festival, from 12pm-6pm on August 18th, 2019 at the grounds of the Jewish Community Center of the Lehigh Valley at 702 N. 22nd St., Allentown, PA. Lehigh Valley Pride is a smoke-free event. Admission is $5/person, with free admission to youth 12 and under.

The festival features two stages, The Tito’s Handmade Vodka Drag Stage and The Acoustic Stage. Headliners include drag performers Silky Ganache and A’keria Davenport of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11 and music headliner Emma’s Revolution. Additional performers include Ophelia with Dina Hall and Beth Sherby, The Philadelphia Freedom Marching Band, That Virginia, Lehigh Valley Gay Men’s Chorus, and dozens of local drag entertainers. Both stages will be ASL interpreted all day. The Acoustic Stage will be a Sober-Social Space at pride, a space without alcohol to be welcoming for those living in recovery.

The festival will kick off with Grand Marshalls, Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine and former President of Pride of the Greater Lehigh Valley Shawn Bausher, marching with the Philadelphia Freedom Marching Band through the festival grounds before speaking at the Acoustic Stage. They will be joined by Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong and Allentown Mayor Ray O’Connell. Following opening remarks, activist groups will lead a Pride Rally to commemorate the 50th anniversary since the Stonewall riots in New York. Congresswoman Susan Wild is also scheduled to attend and speak on stage.

In addition, the festival will also include Drag Bingo benefiting FACT (Fighting AIDS Continuously Together), and youth activities all day at RMA Kids Space and Project SILK Teen Space as well as more than a hundred and fifty vendors, including the PPL artist promenade with a live art making competition and a dozen local LGBT artists and crafters exhibiting their works of art.

The Pride Pub features only local products: beer from Fegley’s Brew Works and mead from The Colony Meadery. And the Allentown Farmer’s Market Food Court features diverse selections of savory and sweet dining options.

“Community members can look forward to an exciting lineup of entertainment throughout the day — from drag queen story hour to performances by RuPaul’s Drag Race celebrities, and from visual artists competing in a live art making competition to musical acts at the acoustic stage — we have something for everyone at Lehigh Valley Pride this year.” said Ariel Torres, Pride Programs Manager, at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

“Pride is a celebration of the arts, culture, history, and rights for the LGBT community” said Adrian Shanker, Executive Director, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, “We are excited to welcome our community to join us in this milestone celebration for the LGBT movement.”

For more information about Lehigh Valley Pride 2019, visit www.bradburysullivancenter.org/pride