Creating a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community was a primary goal for the 2023 Taylor Pride Music and Arts Festival.
Taylor Pride, an organization aimed at helping and providing resources to LGBTQ members in Taylor and the surrounding area, hosted its third annual Taylor Pride Music and Arts Festival at Heritage Park on Saturday.
“That’s the point of Pride, to have a space,” Shirlz Shumaker said. “Regardless if it was even five people that were sitting here together, we would have made a space here where everyone is welcome.” Taylor Pride estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people attended Saturday’s festival. Shumaker, the youth director and youth co-chair for Taylor Pride, says to see that level of turnout was amazing.
A lineup of musicians, drag performers and speakers took the stage throughout the festival to provide entertainment or messages of encouragement and inclusivity. With vendors, a VIP lounge and a kid’s Pride area, all attendees could find something to enjoy at the festival.
Shumaker believes examples of LGBTQ pride in Taylor, such as the festival, can empower its members. When looking for a place to move to from Los Angeles, Shumaker largely chose Taylor because of its “Taylor Pride” signs.
“It’s very important to find a place that is diverse and inclusive,” Shumaker said. “It usually means there is a safe space where I can exist with my family. Finding Pride has been really great in helping me find a secular community.”
While the festival was largely meant to serve as an enjoyable space for LGBTQ members to simply exist in a safe setting, it provided opportunities for its attendees to register to vote as well.
Mayor Brandt Rydell, who says he is proud that Taylor has been a leader in the county on LGBTQ equality, gave the opening remarks of the festival. Rydell reflected on the community’s slogan “Taylor – Friendly as a Texan’s Smile,” and how the city has embraced the phrase.
Rydell and the City Council have recognized LGBTQ+ Pride Day in Taylor for three consecutive years.
“I ran across an ad from a local builder in the late 1970s that used that tagline,” Rydell said during the festival’s opening remarks. “It went on to say that Taylor is a progressive, growing and friendly community that is open and welcoming to all. It was true then and it is true now.”
"I ran across an ad from a local builder in the late 1970s that used that tagline. It went on to say that Taylor is a progressive, growing and friendly community that is open and welcoming to all. It was true then and it is true now.”
-Mayor Brandt Rydell
