By Andrew Adler
Community Editor
Contingents from the Jewish Federation of Louisville, the Trager Family JCC and Jewish Family & Career Services will be among the marchers and walkers participating in the Kentuckiana Pride Parade, slat
ed for Saturday, June 17 from noon-1 p.m. The event kicks off the Kentuckiana Pride Festival, which runs from noon-10 p.m. principally at Waterfront Park’s Big Four Lawn, 129 W. River Road.
This will be the first time the Federation and the Trager Family JCC will be part of the parade since before the pandemic – the spring of 2019.
“The parade consists of organizations from all over the city and the state that come together,” explained Susan Kwasny, Senior Director of Health and Wellness at the Trager Family JCC, “everyone from Yum! to Norton Healthcare and Jefferson County Public Schools.
“We’re just participating in the sense that our staff or board members, or family members, will be walking in the parade,” Kwasny said. “So we’re working on a slogan, and hopefully we’ll have banners and T-shirts and all sorts of fun stuff.”
How many of the above will come? “It’s been four years since we did it, so it’s hard to know,” Kwasny said. “We’ll be reaching out to our staff soon.” The parade starts in NuLu and ends at the festival’s site at Waterfront Park.
Whatever the turnout, participating in the parade speaks to the overall mission of the Federation and the Trager Family JCC. “Part of what we hope to include with a slogan, or with our T-shirts, is to focus on one of our core values: ‘Areyvut,’” said Erin Silliman, Arts & Ideas Director at the Trager Family JCC. “And that just means caring unconditionally for one another. So that goes along with repairing our world, caring for our community and everyone in it.”
Festival organizers estimate that more than 20,000 people will attend the event. It’s presented by the Kentuckiana Pride Foundation, which states its mission as “promoting social, economic, and health equity of Kentuckiana’s sexual and gender minorities. We advocate pride, celebrate achievements, and educate leaders.”
For more information on the Kentuckiana Pride Festival and Parade, go online at kypride.com.