Warwickshire Pride to return to Leamington this August for its tenth anniversary

Annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) celebration Warwickshire Pride is set to return to Leamington with a packed line-up of entertainment in August after a two-year absence.

Among those headlining the free festival – which will take place at the Pump Room Gardens on Saturday August 20 from 11am to 6pm – will be dance music legend Kelly Llorenna, best known for her N-Trance anthem Set You Free and solo hits, including ‘Tell It To My Heart’.

Other acts will include local artists Sam Lawrence and Sam Turner, drag queens The Saturnos, samba dancer Miss Brazil, and country duo The Westlands. The festival will be hosted by the drag queens Sassi Afrika, Anita Bush and Asifa Lahore.

Along with the entertainment there will be over 80 stalls in a rainbow marketplace, fairground rides for children and adults, food stalls, a bar serving alcohol and soft drinks, a trans chill out zone, a women’s tent, bi zone and a youth tent.

This year’s Warwickshire Pride has chosen ‘out together’ as its theme.

Firstly, it celebrates being able to gather for the festival for the first time since 2019, but it also marks two important milestones – the 50th anniversary of the first Pride event to take place in the UK and the tenth Warwickshire Pride festival.

For the first time, the festival will also have a Pride March that will start off the event by parading through Leamington town centre.

Warwickshire Pride’s hcair of trustees, Daniel Browne, said: “After needing to hold the festival online for the last two years, we are so excited to be bringing Pride back to Leamington for the first time since 2019.

"With it being the tenth Warwickshire Pride and the 50th anniversary of the first Pride in the UK, we’re definitely aiming for something bigger, better and more fabulous than ever before.

"While this is of course a celebration of LGBT+ life and culture, Pride is also a protest. LGBT+ people are still discriminated against and even in Leamington there has recently been some really horrific things happening to LGBT+ people.

"It shows why Pride is still needed and why support for the LGBT+ community needs to be year round.

"Yes, we have this one day event, but actually we’re here all year providing support to the community.

"As for the festival, we have our first Pride March this year.

"All people are welcome to get involved and join in, whether you are LGBT+ or not.

"Pride is for everyone and allies are important.

"There is lots happening for people of all ages to enjoy, with inclusion and accessibility being at the heart of it all.”

This year’s festival is sponsored by Ubisoft, Third Kind Games, Mister V Street Food, The Cycle Recycler, and Maisy n Mollys.

For more information about the festival visit www.warwickshirepride.co.uk