INDIANAPOLIS–One of the state’s largest festivals is back after two years. The Indy Pride Festival will be held in June in downtown Indianapolis, and includes music from local and national artists and the Indy Pride Parade. It’s also likely the only time you’ll see cops wearing shorts and t-shirts for uniforms.
“We have been in talks with IMPD representatives over the past several months with the goal of developing a relationship that is empathetic to the needs of our community and rooted in respect,” said Shelly Snider, executive director of Indy Pride.
Snider said police will be wearing “soft uniforms” at the parade.
LISTEN: Shelly Snider talks Indy Pride Festival and relationship with police
“They will be using what we call soft uniforms which makes them a little more approachable,” she said, “wearing shorts rather than the traditional police uniform.”
She said you will also see more bicycle officers on patrol during the event.
“We will continue to use private security to manage public safety and the gates during the event, and hopefully we won’t have to call on IMPD for any major mass incidents.”
The parade is June 11 from 10 to noon and will be along Mass Ave., from College to Delaware. The last parade and festival drew about 50,000 people.
But, the parade isn’t the only event of the day. Snider said you can expect downtown Indy to have musical acts from a variety of artists from DJs to rock bands. She said the Pride Festival is an attractive venue for some artists.
“When we put out the call for performers for this year’s festival, we had 140 people submit applications to be entertainers this year,” she said.
Other events include a 5k run/walk, Interfaith service, Deaf Pride gathering, Shabbat, Juneteenth and LatinX celebrations.
Snider said that she’s glad to see Pride events back in person after two years.
“We along with the rest of the country and the world really, have waited out the pandemic and the shutdowns and have basically been at home and fairly isolated for the last couple of years,” she said.
Everyone is invited to the events, not just members of the queer community, said Snider.
“We love our allies to come out to these events. We also love our allies to come out and volunteer at these events,” she said.
