BOISE, Idaho — The annual Boise Pride Festival is back in town to celebrate its 34th anniversary this year.
While event organizers aren't able to predict the number of attendees this year they say they have prepared for up to 80,000 to attend the LGBTQ+ celebration.
The idea is to promote and celebrate unity and diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities within the Treasure Valley.
"All the fear goes away because you are together, and that's why it's important to have these events and for us to be able to go to them," said Clara Smith and Alexandria Combo, who plan on attending the festival.
Pride celebrates the unique spirit and culture of the LGBTQ+ community.
Staff had to increase safety based on last year's backlash regarding a drag kids event at the festival. Here is what event organizers had to say regarding the change.
"Yes, there were protesters but that's nothing new to this community. We get that all the time, it's just a matter of how many. At the end of the day, there weren't any incidents. Everybody had an amazing time and everybody was safe. This year there has been none of that. So things should be back to normal,” said Donald Williamson.
The festival will start at 5:30 p.m. with performances starting at 6 p.m and the night will wrap up with a firework show scheduled at 10 p.m.
