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FERNDALE — Ferndale’s annual celebration of its LGBTQ+ community will return this weekend.
Ferndale Pride will make its big return for its 15th year from 12:30 p.m. to 10 p.m Saturday, May 31, on West Nine Mile Road.
The street festival will have more than 200 vendors on-site, entertainment and a children’s area. Ferndale Pride’s footprint includes West Nine Mile Road between Woodward and Livernois avenues and portions of Planavon and Allen streets near West Nine Mile.
One thing about this year’s Pride that Event Director Julia Music is excited for is that organizers have doubled the time for its drag performers.
“It was something that the audience really requested last year,” she said. “They wanted more drag time, more performers, more title holders. So we have — we believe — every title holder in southeast Michigan, a couple from northern Ohio as well that live in Michigan, and we are going to just have a lot of drag this year.”
Michael Christian, co-owner of Motor City Drag Kings, has been producing Pride’s drag show since 2022 and is excited for the expansion of the show this year.
The drag participation consists of a couple of different aspects, Christian said, including Reading with Royalty, which will feature kings, queens and title holders reading to children every hour starting at 1 p.m. and the last one at 7 p.m. in the children’s area. All readings will be American Sign Language interpreted.
There’s also the aforementioned drag show on the Planavon Performance Stage with runway walks, lipsyncing and showmanship one would expect in a drag show.
“Music let us add a little bit more time, and that gave us room to expand and give other people opportunities that maybe haven’t or haven’t in years,” he said. “It’s hard to just book five to nine people, and this year there’s 19 for the main stage show. So that there is over 40 entertainers between the reading, newcomers and the main stage show.”
Christian has been a member of the drag community for more than 20 years. It’s been a community, he said, that’s allowed him to be himself, express his gender and have a fun time.
“It was so long ago that it wasn’t popular and it wasn’t popular for kings and there was not a lot of chatter about what transition is and whatnot,” he said. “It was a way for me to dip into my gender and feel comfortable.”
The LGBTQ+ community certainly has seen attacks over the years, though Music also feels that many people are energized around their support who previously sat on the sidelines.
Music hopes this support shows up with volunteers, as the event is looking for more people to lend a hand.
“I definitely also noticed that we had to turn to our community for sponsorship this year, and our community came through really, really big, and so did some of the companies that have stood by us since the beginning,” she said.
Christian has seen the reception of the LGBTQ+ community grow, as well as more positivity toward the drag community.
“‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ kind of led the charge on that and everything, but we’ve seen it grow,” he said. “Obviously, this year there’s a lot of backlash. Fundraising was hard. I think the current administration has given the world permission to hate out loud and that’s a little tough, but I’m really proud of everybody that we booked for continuing to stand up for who they are and still coming out.”
“This is something I’ve been seeking out since I was a young person,” Music said. “It’s incredibly important that we don’t back down now. The gains we’ve made have been just so big, and this is not the time to say that those gains are not worth it. This is the time to continue to push forward.”
For more information on Ferndale Pride and to volunteer, visit ferndalepride.com.
