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Kansas City Gay Pride Festival Relocates To West Bottoms

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Andrew Bossi
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Flickr -- Creative Commons

  The three-day Gay Pride Festival opens Friday at 6 p.m. in Kansas City, Mo., this year in a new location — the West Bottoms.

Rick Bumgardner, who is the festival’s event co-coordinator, said relocating in the field near Kemper Arena offers ample parking, a trendy and up-and-coming location and a potential home for Pride in the future.

Past festival locations have caused controversy in the LGBTQ community. In 2012, a Change.org petition took issue with the commercialization of locating the festival in the Power & Light District.

Bumgardner said the new location will address what some festival-goers have vocalized about returning the festival back to a park setting.

In addition to the new location, Bumgardner said this year’s Pride will feature more local acts.

“We are kind of touting our own this year,” he said.

Lawrence-based artist Stan Herd has been working on a crop art project in the West Bottoms, and invited festival-goers to encircle the project for an aerial photo Saturday at 5 p.m.

DJ Sophia Lin, who was born and raised in Kansas City, will close out the celebrations Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m. 

The festival will also feature several local entertainers during its Battle of the Bars Sunday. 

You can find out more about the festival at Gay Pride KC’s website.

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