Pride Fest Coming to Wenatchee’s Lincoln Park This Saturday

As the Wenatchee Valley leans into the heart of June, a spirit of celebration and resilience is taking center stage at Lincoln Park this weekend. Following a month of intense public discussion about the city's downtown banner policies, Wenatchee Pride is channeling that energy directly into community action, solidarity, and joy. The 2026 Pride Festival kicks off this Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. I got an opportunity to chat with Wenatchee Pride's president, Kelsey Riggs, this afternoon in the KW3 studio.

Connor: KW3, it’s Connor hanging out with Kelsey Riggs, the president of Wenatchee Pride. Thanks for taking the time to come in.

Kelsey Riggs: Yeah, Thanks for having me.

C: Pride Fest 2026, taking over Wenatchee's Lincoln Park this coming Saturday, 11 AM to 6 PM, for anyone who has never been. Why should we go?

KR: You should go because we really need allies, and the whole point of a pride festival is to kind of say we’re here and we’re here to celebrate, and yeah, that’s a whole goal of our pride fest is to celebrate the community. We’re gonna have entertainment. We’re gonna have food vendors: Burch Mountain BBQ and Indigenous Eats out of Spokane. We also have Dirty Apron. (For) entertainment, we’re gonna have Icarus, a local band, Timely Tragedy, and Pizza Party, who will be performing. We’re gonna have some Drag and NCW Libraries is gonna be doing a storytime in the 11 o’clock hour like they normally do at the library, so we really want people to show up and come, and I don’t know, come celebrate with us. Come be in community and come to show your support.

C: Love how you said it, come and be an ally. There’s been a lot of talk about downtown Wenatchee regarding the city's banner policy and what’s flying on the light poles this June. How wouldn’t you pride channel this conversation into your weekend event?

KR: I think that we are definitely going to try to respond. I know that like the talk around people coming and want to show up and show the support has been really, really huge, and it’s been really humbling the amount of support we have here in the valley, besides what’s been happening downtown, and the whole point is to celebrate, and that’s what June is about. You know our symbols are important because they signify that people are safe in their communities. You know we exist here, we’re going to continue to exist here, and you know there’s some talk about "There shouldn’t be so much focus on the banners," but...for some people, just knowing that they’re there means that they can walk around downtown Wenatchee safely when it’s not always safe for them. You know it’s really, really important, and then you know I hope people understand that it’s like it’s symbolic, but it’s also a much bigger idea in conversation than just a rainbow banner. You take away those symbols, and it leads directly to legislation affecting people in our community, so I hope people understand why we’ve taken the stance we’ve taken and why we need to have a pride festival and continue to celebrate our community.

Wenatchee Pride Fest (Via Wenatchee Pride)

C: We will be loved seeing how multigenerational this event becomes, families, looking to bring their kids to Lincoln Park this Saturday, 11 to 6. What do you have planned that’s family-friendly? We mentioned the story time. Are there any other kinds of family-friendly events?

KR: Yeah, we have an entire youth zone...There’ll be a bubble-making station and coloring. They can do coloring pages, a couple of other activities, and we have a community member who’s helping us out with that. The youth zone will be from 11 to 3...it’s at Lincoln Park this year. So there's a playground. I think the splash pad will be going, so it’s a very family-friendly event, and there are lots of families that celebrate Pride month. Every family is important, and how they function and care about each other, and you don’t know if your kids are gonna be like that when they grow up, so it’s important that children know that they’re gonna be safe with the adults that they call like their guardians or parents, so yes, our festival will be very, very kid-friendly.

C: We say, families, we should mention The Endsley's, I miss them. A lot of people miss them. They moved off to Spain...what a great part of what a great part of Wenatchee Pride they've been.

KR: Yeah, they (the Endsleys) were extremely integral to the growth of Wenatchee Pride, and we miss them, too, but they are doing what’s best for their child. We don’t know what the world‘s gonna look like in a couple of years. That’s why pride is important. Our community deserves to be celebrated and to feel safe. It’s a day, but it would be great if it were all year round, all the time.

Wenatchee Pride

C: Kelsey Riggs, president of Wenatchee Pride...one last thing, how can someone get involved to help Pride Fest at the last minute, or just do stuff for the organization?

KR: So our volunteer applications are still open...I think we have about 8 positions to fill, and you can find the link on our socials. Honestly, because we’re a volunteer-based board, none of us gets paid for the work we do. I think people think that we do, but we don’t. We all have day jobs. Volunteering your time is the most important thing you can do. Showing up to our events and, obviously, financial ways like donating or sponsoring. We have a lot of sponsors this year. Confluence is our biggest one, but anything that you can give, and even just showing up if you can’t, is the important thing to do. 

C: get a hold of Wenatchee Pride through all your socials, Instagram, Facebook.

KR: Those are the two main ones.

C: Pride Fest 2026 takes over Wenatchee’s Lincoln Park this Saturday, 11 to 6. Kelsey Riggs, thank you so much for making time out of your busy week to come (talk) with us.

KR: Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.