This year, Utah Pride staged a plethora of entertainment. From drag queen extravaganzas to puppet shows, it’s safe to say that one of Salt Lake City’s biggest festivals offered performances for just about everyone. In fact, the variety of amusements set up throughout Washington Square Park mirrored the eclectic mix of attendees who flocked to the festival grounds.
Utah Pride’s policy of openness and acceptance overwhelmed every aspect of the festival, and each set of entertainment reflected the event’s mission statement of “Real Equality.” When considering the melting pot of Utah Pride supporters, it is obvious the festival did its best to resemble the different likings of all participants — young or old, gay or straight, everyone had a place. The festival accomplished such a feat by building three stages centered around different themes.
For young clubbers, Utah Pride’s south stage played the techno beats of Salt Lake City’s most popular DJ, featuring electronic gurus like DJ Lishus and DJ Harry Cross Jr.
While the south stage offered a makeshift dance club, the stage located on the west side of the festival grounds presented more intimate performances. Acting as the smallest stage at the venue, the west stage hosted drag queen talent shows, belly dancing by Habibi Habibi, the winners of the Miss City Weekly Pageant and an assortment of other faculties.
Moving from the west side to the north side, the main stage resembled Utah Pride’s goal to offer different shows for diverse personalities. For instance, rather than opening Saturday’s lineup with a musician or drag queen, Cheer Salt Lake acted as Utah Pride’s entertainment catalyst and motivated the crowd to stand up for “Real Equality.”
Afterwards, the main stage welcomed big names and local talents — including some non-LGBT performers — giving all performers the opportunity to dazzle the Utah Pride audience.
Utah band The Femme Medea was a crowd favorite. Composed of three members, the group illustrated the other side of drag queen shows by playing original songs that contain a versatile mix of stories and themes.
From drag queen musicians to drag queen performers, the main stage had it all. Drag queens and drag kings from the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire Talent Show expressed their gratitude toward Utah Pride.
“I like going out and interacting with people outside of the club environment,” drag queen Mae Day said, while standing next to her “drag son” Dee Daye.
In addition to Salt Lake City performers, Utah Pride became the temporary home of three well-known headliners. Alex Newell was the first of the famous and beautiful to perform. Hailing originally from the reality TV show, “The Glee Project,” he quickly gained fame and joined the cast of “Glee.”
At Utah Pride, Newell belted out a series of hit melodies. His stage presence was undeniable. With a witty humor and diverse song selection, Newell got the audience excited for Utah Pride. Throughout his performance, the “Glee” star told several jokes and interacted with his audience by holding spectators’ hands and serenading individuals in the crowd.
“It was one of the top five things in my life,” said 14-year-old “Glee” fan Brady Lindsey.
Lindsey, who came out to his friends and family this past October, said he is excited to join the Salt Lake City LGBT community and enjoy Utah Pride.
Ivy Winters and Pandora Boxx also wowed spectators with comedy. Both were voted Miss Congeniality on “Ru Paul’s Drag Race,” a TV show featuring competing drag queens.
Pandora kicked the set off by lip syncing to a mashup of sound clips from Harry Potter and songs about magic like “Oh Oh It’s Magic.” Following Pandora was Ivy, who busted out juggling acts to her lip syncing productions. In between songs and juggling, both drag queens spouted jokes to the audience.
To attract an older crowd, Utah Pride offered the song stylings of Thelma Houston. After earning her first Grammy award in 1977, Houston has built a dedicated following. At the show, she bounced out chart toppers like “Last Dance.”
“[Thelma Houston] grabbed my hand. It was fantastic,” said Utah Pride veteran Justin Carter.