BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — Blount Pride is scheduled to start Saturday afternoon at the Clayton Center in Maryville. Around 1,500 people are expected to attend — a number that reflects several years of growth.
Around four years ago, the group's festival brought out around 800 people. Now, they expect to nearly double that number as groups arrive at Maryville College's campus to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. The group is also one of several working to serve and uplift the LGBTQ+ community in East Tennessee.
"We are proud to be Blount County, no matter who we are," said Rhonda Radford, who joined Blount Pride in 2019. "Everybody's got this idea of small towns in The South being a specific way, full of bigotry and racism. And, I want to let everybody know that we're not like that. We are diverse, and we are welcoming. And we are everybody."
Groups like the Appalachian Outreach, Knox Pride and the University of Tennessee Pride Center are also working to make sure members of the LGBTQ+ community have access to resources and can connect with people like them.
"The visibility of LGBT people has grown in Blount County. But also, LGBT people have always been in Blount County," said Ari Baker, the president of the board of Blount Pride.
Recently, they received a letter from Ryan Desmond, the Blount County District Attorney General. In it, Desmond warned that his office would prosecute anyone who violated an anti-drag law that was ruled unconstitutional after a Memphis lawsuit.
A federal judge later ruled to bar Desmond from enforcing the anti-drag law, along with Blount County law enforcement. And so the festival is expected to continue as planned, with a full schedule of events.
That schedule is available below.
- 1 p.m. - Gates open
- 1:30 p.m. (Plaza) - Rock and Metal Academy
- 2 p.m. (Main Stage) - Appalachian Equality Chorus
- 2:30 p.m. (Plaza) - Drag Queen Storytime
- 3 p.m. (Main Stage) - jaqhoney performs
- 3:30 p.m. (Main Stage) - Comedy Revue
- 4 p.m. (Main Stage) - Mother Genevieve performs
- 4:30 p.m. (Main Stage) - Drag revue
- 6:30 p.m. (Main Stage) - Jordan Albright performs
- 7 p.m. (Main Stage) - Flamy Grant performs
- 7:30 p.m. - Gates close
Blount Pride had also recently formed into a 501(c)(3) organization. The event will be free to attend. The festival's slogan is, "There's Pride in Them/Their Hills."