Berea PRIDE Festival

Berea PRIDE is a program of The 11th House Foundation, a nonprofit promoting visibility for LGBTQIA+ people in the Berea area. It has held a family-friendly Pride festival in Berea since October 2018, usually on the first weekend of October, along with events through the year.

The idea for Berea PRIDE came from a Berea College student named Hunter. After graduating, Hunter moved away, but the organizers credit that early spark with inspiring the effort that continues today.

The group's aim is to give LGBTQIA+ residents of Berea, Madison County and neighboring counties safe, family-friendly places to gather. Besides the October festival, it schedules events throughout the year, sometimes more than one a month, in Berea and elsewhere in Kentucky. Recent examples include a community tea and conversation gathering.

The festival welcomes vendors, including businesses and groups that consider themselves LGBTQIA+ safe spaces, and food trucks apply to serve attendees. Volunteers staff each event. The parent organization, The 11th House Foundation, also publishes community letters and pieces on LGBTQIA+ history, such as a letter honoring LGBTQIA+ prisoners liberated from Auschwitz.

Pride events celebrate LGBTQ+ people and mark the Stonewall uprising of June 1969. Most combine a parade or march with a festival of performers, community groups, vendors and food.

Berea PRIDE Festival has included festival and family-friendly events.

Berea PRIDE Festival was first held in 2018.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. It usually falls first weekend of October.