Boise Pride Festival Sees Largest Parade Turnout in Event History

It was a turbulent week for Boise Pride Festival organizers, sponsors, and attendees.  Earlier in the week, just days before the annual festival kicked off, an online backlash for the event picked up in a way that the festival hasn't seen in years. Members of various alt-right groups began contacting the festival along with any mentioned sponsors "demanding" funds be pulled and the festival be cancelled.

Many members of the community were harassed and threatened by these folks online--including elected officials, members of the media, and known, local voices such as prominent drag queens.

If the goal of these intimidators was "fear"--frankly, it wasn't achieved. While many if not all attendees and sponsors of Boise Pride were very cautious and alert over the weekend--attendance numbers seem to imply that nobody was "fearful".  In fact, many noted it was among one of the "happiest" events they've ever been around.

We received comment from some event organizers who shared that the official head count estimate for the parade was over 10,000 people--making this portion of the event an all-time record.

A local tweet capturing a fun group of rollerblading can be seen below!