OUT South West’s Bunbury PrideFest to return with inaugural parade and line-up of fabulous entertainment

Bunbury’s Graham Bricknell Memorial Music Shell is set to become a wonderland for all things LGBTQ+ as OUT South West gears up for the annual Pride celebrations. The Bunbury PrideFest will return to town on November 19 and is set to be even bigger and better with its first parade and a plethora of entertainment lined up. The day’s festivities will kick off with OUT South West’s inaugural Pride march, which will see participants embark from the Parade Hotel at 10.30am, walking through Queens Gardens and finishing at the Pat Usher Memorial Promenade. The official PrideFest will then kick off at the Graham Bricknell Music Shell from 11am, with local drag king Barry Mundi serving as the day’s host and featuring performances from DJ Ginger Laminge, drag artists Macka Roni, Cindy Crosscheck and Esther Eve and musicians Cael McLeash, Maya Ixchell and Veruca Moon. Festivities will then continue on during the evening with a PrideFest after party taking place at Water’s Edge Cafe & Restaurant, featuring performances from Barry Mundi, Cindy Crosscheck, Esther Eve and DJ Drew. OUT South West PrideFest co-ordinator Nickie Sheldrick said this year’s event should be a great show and she couldn’t wait for next weekend. “We are keen to continue putting PrideFest as long as we can,” she said. “It’s a fantastic event to show the local LGBTQI community that we are here and we’re here to support everybody.” Ms Sheldrick said the march would hopefully lead to OUT South West eventually organising a fully fledged parade. “We’ll hopefully get there but we’re just starting out with a Pride march this year to hopefully get things going,” she said. “All the rainbow colours will be on display, that’s for sure.” In the lead up to the big day, OUT South West also announced it would be holding its first youth Pride event on November 17 at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. The event, organised by local LGBTQIA+ youth, Headspace Bunbury and WAAC Freedom State, will feature plenty of interactive art displays, performances by local drag artist Macka Roni, youth DJ sets and a lipsync competition. Ms Sheldrick said the youth event should be fantastic.