Your Guide to Ferndale Pride 2013

The free, family-friendly Ferndale Pride celebration this weekend is expected to attract as many as 15,000 people and will feature live music, a street festival, food, a charity run and more.

“More than one hundred volunteers join in to make all of these events happen successfully and  together the events will raise up to $20,000 in proceeds for area charities and nonprofits, including Affirmations, Michigan AIDS Coalition, Ferndale Community Foundation, Ferndale Area Chamber of Commerce, Motor City Bears, ACCESS and others,” a press release says.

The annual event, presented by Motor City Casino-Hotel, also kicks off Gay Pride Month in Ferndale.

“We are a proud city,” event organizer and former Ferndale Mayor Craig Covey said. “We are proud of the volunteers and businesses owners and residents who continue to make Ferndale a beacon for acceptance, inclusion, and diversity in our state.”

Schedule: Ferndale Pride 2013

Friday (pre-festival events)

• 7-10 p.m., Affirmations: Photo shoot for “Second Class Citizens,” a documentary about discrimination against LGBT people.
• 9 p.m., Soho: Club night/dance party featuring the film’s creator along with Mr. Gay Leather Michigan.
• 5-8 p.m.: Motor City Bears’ banquet at Zion Lutheran Church.
• 7 p.m. to midnight,  963 Allen St.: The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services will host the free Connect Me barbecue. ACCESS also will offer free HIV and STD screenings. 

• 8:30 a.m. to noon, start and finish on Allen between West Nine Mile and Troy: Rainbow Run races to benefit Ferndale Area Chamber of Commerce; Ferndale Community Foundation; Affirmations; and Upstander, an anti-bullying program established by the Friendship Circle. Participants’ white T-shirts will be splattered with colored, non-toxic powdered paint at six stations along the routes representing each color of the rainbow. Hundreds of colorful balloons will be launched at the races’ conclusion. As many as 1,000 people are expected to take part.
• Noon to 9 p.m., downtown West Nine Mile: U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, along with volunteers and Ferndale Pride organizers, will kick off the festival featuring 75 vendor booths, food and drink provided by Ferndale businesses, a children’s activity area, and two stages featuring live music on the main stage and DJ sets on the second stage located at West Nine and Woodward Avenue.
• 12:30 p.m., main stage at West Nine Mile and Planavon: Motif.
• 1:05 p.m., main stage: Cullen Blue.
• 1:30 p.m., main stage: The Fitt.
• 1:55 p.m. main stage: Chris Anthem.
• 2:30 p.m., main stage: Speakers will include Pleasant Ridge City Commissioners Jason Krzysiak and Ann Perry, who were leaders in passing that city’s human rights ordinance. Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner Jim Nash and Royal Oak City Commissioner  Jim Rasor, who has championed that city’s efforts to enact a human rights ordinance, also have been invited to speak.
• 2:55 p.m., main stage: AllDay Monday.
• 3:30 p.m., main stage: Abigail Stauffer.
• 4:10 p.m., main stage: Jane of Arc.
• 4:50 p.m., main stage: Big Smooth and the Hellraisers.
• 5:30 p.m., main stage: My Pal Val.
• 6:05 p.m., main stage: Randy Friess.
• 6:30 p.m., main stage: Victor Billione Walker.
• 7 p.m., main stage: The Cliks.
• 8:10 p.m., main stage: Downtown Drag, featuring drag kings Teddy, Michael Christian, Spacee Kadett and Dante Gabanna, and drag queens Natalie Cole, Crystal Harding, Jadein Black, Izaya Cole and Domonique Polo.