Battle Creek Pride

“We The People MEANS EVERYONE.”

The Battle Creek Pride Festival is a can’t-miss event for everyone – young, old, queer, straight, you name it. Join us at Leila Arboretum on Saturday, July 20^th from noon until 8 p.m. for a day of free, family-friendly fun. You’ll see over 70 vendors, six food trucks, three live bands, two incredible drags shows, a beer garden, the Meijer Kids Zone featuring the Over The Rainbow Zootopia petting zoo, crafts, games, and prizes. And be sure to stick around from 8 p.m. until midnight for an awesome sunset After Glow Dance Party presented by Club Vortex.

Here’s the complete BC Pride Week schedule of events:

On Thursday, July 18th we’ll hold our funny and factual trivia game show, “LGBTQ&A“.

On Friday, July 19th we’ll march through downtown during our annual Pride Parade.

On Saturday, July 20th we’ll rock Leila Arboretum from noon until 8 p.m. with our free, family friendly Pride Festival, followed by a cool AfterGlow Dance Party from 8 to midnight.

And on Sunday, July 21st we’ll honor our past with a Candlelight Vigil at our Resource Center.

These four fantastic days could never happen without you, and we need your help.

WE NEED Festival volunteers and Float builders to help set up, tear down, and help out.

WE NEED folks to march in our parade and to be in the audience for LGBTQ&A.

WE NEED sponsors and donors.

WE NEED everybody to make this the best BC Pride Week ever!

If you want to be involved, we’d love to have you join us. Just visit THIS LINK, which will take you to our detailed page with sign up links. Many thanks to all our faithful volunteers!

This year’s Battle Creek Pride Parade is dedicated to someone who cannot be with us. But he sure did love a good party.

Matt Downing passed away unexpectedly on February 6th. He was 67 years old. We want to honor Matt, not because he died, but because of how he lived.

Those who knew Matt will remember his genuine kindness, his giving spirit, his incredible warmth, his huge smile, and his wicked sense of humor. He loved and cared for his close friends deeply. And whatever he was involved in, he always wanted to make a difference.

For many reasons, we don’t have a lot of icons in our BC Pride community. But Matt would easily be considered one of them. Back in 2000, Matt was one of the founding fathers, along with Carol Recher and a few others, of an early version of Battle Creek Pride. The organization only lasted a couple of years, as Battle Creek just wasn’t quite ready for our community to be so bold and visible. Matt was very proud to see that things have progressed and changed since then.

According to lore, the very first Pride Parade ever held in Battle Creek ended up on Rose Street in the well-maintained backyard of Matt Downing, who held a barbeque to celebrate the event.

When a friend passes away, you naturally feel a loss. But when you lose someone you have a history with – like Matt – it feels doubled. You miss being with them and just knowing they’re around. But you also miss the connection they provide to your past and to your roots. And the depth of that foundational loss is something you feel forever.

For a lot of us in Battle Creek Pride, Matt was one of those special few who linked us to our beginnings. And as we celebrate his memory, if you want to know what Matt left behind, just look around you.

Matt’s husband, Kerry Kurek, will honor and represent him and will ride in the Grand Marshal’s car in this year’s Parade. Please join our entire Pride community in letting him know how deeply Matt is missed.