5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Three Pride Month events to be held in Aurora this weekend
To celebrate Pride Month, the Aurora community is set to hold three events, including a parade, around downtown this weekend.
On Saturday, the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board will again this year be hosting Pride at the Plaza, which will transform Stolp Avenue in downtown Aurora with live music, a drag show, food trucks and booths from local community organizations, according to a news release from the city of Aurora.
'We're thrilled to kick off Aurora's Pride weekend with this event,' Zachary Bishop, chair of the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, said in the city news release. 'We're building on last year's success to make this celebration even better with fantastic performers, delicious food and an inclusive space for everyone to enjoy.'
Pride at the Plaza's entertainment lineup this year is set to include a drag performance by the Divas and live music from artists Cheryl Rodey and Invisible Cartoons, according to the release.
The event will run from 6 to 10 p.m. and will be free, although there will be a suggested $5 donation to the Denee Mallon Scholarship Fund. The fund's namesake, Denee Mallon, fought to end Medicare's ban on transgender procedure coverage, and the scholarship will help members of the LGBTQ+ community in Aurora, the city's news release said.
The Aurora Pride Parade, which is set to feature between 60 and 70 marching groups, including floats, will kick off downtown at noon on Sunday. The event has taken place yearly since 2018, except for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is organized by the Aurora Pride organization.
Gwyn Ciesla, president of Aurora Pride, said the parade is a family-friendly event that attracts all ages and yearly draws between 5,000 and 6,000 spectators.
One difference between this year's Aurora Pride Parade and past ones, according to Ciesla, is that it will feature three grand marshals rather than just one. Ciesla said the grand marshals, which will lead the parade, are people honored for their work for or importance to the LGBTQ+ community in the Aurora area.
This year's grand marshals, as announced on the Aurora Pride Facebook page, are: Corvin Ezri, founder of The Prideful Path Project; Aleyna Couture, a local drag queen known for her active role in west suburban nightlife and her mentorship within the local drag community; and Paulene Spika, a 71-year-old transgender woman who serves on the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board.
The Aurora Pride Parade has a number of sponsors, its website shows, including Rush, NuMark Credit Union and Sonova. But Ciesla said the organization had some fundraising challenges this year because of the current political climate.
'You have some companies that are actively walking back any sort of DEI or equality initiatives and then others that are kind of doubling down and being more supportive,' Ciesla said. 'There's a lot of both.'
Immediately following the parade, Aurora Pride will be hosting a party — aptly named the 2025 Pride Parade After Party — at the Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora.
The party, planned to start at 1 p.m., will be family-friendly like the parade and will include food, drinks, live music, a drag show and more, according to a post on the Aurora Pride Facebook page.
Tickets to the event cost $10 and will go towards funding next year's Pride Parade. Tickets can be purchased at the door on the day of the event or ahead of time at:
Ciesla said that, although Chicago has long held Pride events, it is fantastic to see so many like the ones in Aurora pop up all over the state in recent years, because that means no one has to go that far to attend one.
'Now there's so many you can't even do them all even if you had a private jet,' Ciesla said.
