North Texas Pride invites you to “Come As You Are.”
North Texas Pride, back for its 10th year, set for Plano Arts Center and Haggard Park
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
The North Texas Pride Foundation has dubbed this year’s Pride celebration “Come As You Are,” celebrating 10 + 1 years of being out and proud in Collin County. This isn’t actually the 10th anniversary; last year would have been the big 10th celebration. But of course, that damn pandemic got the event postponed and then canceled.
Then the party was going to be held during Pride Month this year. But the delta variant showed up, and the event was again postponed.
But Morris Garcia and his team of organizers assure everyone the 10th North Texas Pride definitely will take place on Saturday, Sept. 25, from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Arts Center of Plano and adjoining Haggard Park. And they have a full day of events planned for their first big LGBTQ community event since things began to reopen.
Performances will take place in the arts center’s Saigling House. Those performances include the Empire Cats Band and Driveway Dive Band. Chris Chism will perform, and so will McKinney Belly Dance, directed by Raena. (Raena, an award-winning belly dancer, will also offer a free belly dance lesson after the performance.) The 2019-20 North Texas Pride King Brent Gbear will entertain along with a bevy of drag stars and the royal court.
Six dogs in doggie drag will compete, with the audience voting on best in show.
Outside in the park will be a kids’ zone that will include a bounce house, face painters and a teddy bear maker. Garcia stressed that the entire event is kid friendly and free to all kids, ages 12 and under. A $10 donation to help defray costs is requested of all teens and adults.
Vendor, sponsor and non-profit booths will also set up in the park. Arts and crafts booths are both kid- and adult-friendly.
Two giveaways are scheduled: A grand prize of outdoor activity games will be given to one lucky child, and an Oculus VR system will go to one adult.
Mixed drinks, beer and wine will be available in the Arts Center. Food trucks will be parked outside.
“I’m excited,” Garcia said, “because people need this.”
But he also noted that, after a year-and-a-half of canceled events, staging a large event became a little less routine, and he wants to make sure all the last-minute details are handled. He’s also a little apprehensive about making sure people social distance and wear masks. Hand sanitizer will be placed around the park with signs reminding people to remain safe.
While this is a Pride event, he said North Texas Pride has always attracted “all kinds of people embracing each other’s differences.”
Ten events ago — 11 years — North Texas Pride began in an alleyway in downtown McKinney. Garcia and his husband Tim did all the promotion themselves, “and 225 people showed up,” Garcia said.
They enjoyed live bands and a DJ, and the event raised money for C.U.R.E., a Collin-County-based AIDS education organization.
Garcia said that while his goal has never been to be the biggest Pride event in North Texas, the event has grown through the years, moving to various locations to accommodate that growth. He’s hoping for a good turnout this year, and he already knows the number of vendors and sponsors this year is double the 2019 number.
Parking is available in Haggard Park and nearby at Plano City Hall and the Plano police station. Coming from Dallas, the easiest way to get to North Texas Pride is to take DART’s Red Line to the Downtown Plano Station, which faces Haggard Park. Walk around the park to Avenue H to enter, because the park will be fenced to allow beer and wine to be carried outside.
Although North Texas Pride ends at 7 p.m., the Historical Downtown Plano Association, Plano’s downtown merchants association, is extending the evening with music and entertainment on the nearby McCall Plaza stage and holding a wine walk featuring downtown Plano merchants.
Garcia said the merchants association did a great job of coordinating with his group, and the theme for the evening’s entertainment will be Pride.
