A sea of students will move through the UCSC campus, flowing from college to college, to support the LGBT community this Saturday.
The seventh annual PRIDE event, this year titled Kresge Presents: The Colors of Pride, is a celebration of the queer and allied community at UC Santa Cruz.
Organized by the Kresge Multicultural Education Committee and the PRIDE Committee, the event will feature a campus-wide parade, culminating in a festival held in Kresge Lower Street.
“When you see everyone wearing the same colored shirts, you get this feeling of, ‘Yeah, I’m not alone in this,’” event co-chair and third-year Mark Corre said.
The two-hour march, beginning at noon at Quarry Plaza, will be led by volunteer and first-year student Ryan King. The throng will travel through each of the 10 colleges, picking up more and more students along the way.
PRIDE is the biggest queer-affiliated event on campus, with an estimated attendance of 500 at the festival, which takes place after the parade.
Each college features a unique activity, including a dance at Merrill College and an ice cream social at College Eight. For the first year, Family Student Housing will participate by handing out homemade refreshments to marchers and joining the parade, King said.
Volunteers will distribute free items like shirts and water bottles at each stop.
The march ends at Kresge Plaza at 2 p.m., where the festival begins. There, UCSC student groups like ImPower and community organizations like the Santa Cruz AIDS Project will host activity booths with free face painting and other fun activities.
Aloha Grill and Saturn Café will provide free food, including vegetarian and vegan options.
Committee co-chair and fourth-year literature major and education minor Emily Navas said, “various activities accumulate to the excitement and fun that each person can hope to experience and remember in years to come.”
Performances by UCSC Cheer, Acquire, the Hightones, Slugs in Fishnets, and bands Beaver Fever and Feed Me Jack, among others, will perform throughout the afternoon, Navas said.
The festival will feature a guest speaker, Aurora Guerrero, director of “Mosquita y Mari,” a film about the coming of age of two Chicanas and their intimate friendship. PRIDE collaborated with El Centro to have Guerrero speak at the festival.
“Guerrero’s speech is sure to make a lasting impression at the festival,” Corre said.
Members of the queer and allied community will unite and form a single body of support. Corre said with Family Student Housing’s participation and a new keynote speaker, the growth of PRIDE shows the growth of the queer community at UCSC.
“[PRIDE] connects everyone, no matter who you are,” Corre said. “If you’re queer, if you’re allied, if you’re from a different college — it doesn’t matter. You’re there for one cause.”
