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Pride in the Park, hosted by the Marshalltown LGBTQ+ organization founded by Taylor Bear, is an event designed to celebrate diversity with an eye toward inclusion. It will take place for the second year in a row Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. in West End Park, 222 N. 13th Street. About 250 people attended the inaugural event last year.

A brief welcome and blessing will take place at noon, followed by Ring of Pride put on by Live Pro Wrestling.

“There will be a solid hour and a half of wrestling going on,” Bear said. “It is a family-friendly show and people follow them faithfully. I was so surprised at the following they had last year.”

The vendor market will consist of about 30 merchants and food stands, and go from noon to 4 p.m. In addition, the Iowa chapter of Free Mom Hugs will be present, as well as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Marshalltown.

“St. Paul’s was such an important pillar in the event last year at being a vendor, as a presence,” she added. “I had so much feedback that that gave people almost a healing experience for some religious trauma that often queer people do experience. So I was really grateful that they wanted to be a part of things again this year.”

At 2 p.m. there will be a Day Rave and Community Dance open to all ages. It will include beach balls, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, music and time to hang out. Bring your own lawn chair.

Forty-five minutes later the “Lip Sync For Your Life” Battle Royale will kick off. Some of last year’s artists will be returning including Xander Lyon Frost who assisted with hosting in 2024.

“Some of those people are drag entertainers. Some of those people are not. We are allowing them to express themselves freely as entertainers, because, again, it is an art form, whether you call it drag, or whether you call it theater, it’s an art form that we would like to respect, just like we would respect anything else,” Bear said. “We still wanted that empowering art form to be present in some capacity without fostering anxiety or fear in the people who are going to attend.”

She noted that some people have offered their time for free due to changes in funding.

“For a lot of pride, especially our small pride, we had a few of our major sponsors who, because of company policy changes, or because of just a general fear of backlash, did withdraw funding this year,” Bear said. “That is understood and respected to make that decision, to keep your company or yourself safe, but I do think that it makes a statement when you still support something that is inclusive and diverse and community-focused. So to the personal donations that we receive from our vendors who attend, that is a donation that is appreciated, and same for the personal donations that are made by people in the community.”

The day will wrap up with a farewell and thank you at 4 p.m.

“Of course, we all have to be very honest about what is going on politically, in our state, in our country, our world, and just be real that the LGBTQ community and trans people and drag as a performance art are under attack by certain types of legislation that are being put out there,” Bear said.

Recently, Iowa became the first state in the country to remove gender identity from its civil rights code, meaning transgender and non-binary residents are no longer protected from discrimination in jobs and housing. The law also explicitly defines female and male based on reproductive organs at birth and removes the ability for people to change the sex designation on their birth certificate.

Bear said it doesn’t even feel real to her that Pride in the Park happened last year. Except for two minor incidents of harassment, the event remained peaceful, and she hopes for the same outcome this week.

“To think that it happened, and we brought community and inclusion, diversity and joy to Marshalltown, I’m so happy that we can do that, and so I really want to do that again,” she said. “Luckily, I had some really great community members who got together right after Pride in the Park last year and gave some really great feedback on what they wanted to see, what they didn’t want to see…I truly believe in the statement, ‘leave things better than you found them, people, places and things.’ That is what I’m often saying. And I believe that, and I believe the way that we do that is embracing diversity and inclusion in a neighborly way, and throwing these community events.”

Direct message the Marshalltown LGBTQ+ Facebook page for questions or if you are interested in being a performer, vendor, sponsor or volunteer.