The Gainesville Pride Festival began with LGBTQ+ organizations, small businesses, performers, community members and allies socializing in Bo Diddley Plaza. But the celebration of pride and queer history was cut short by a heavy rain that sent festivalgoers running for cover.
Around 4:30 p.m., almost five hours after the event kicked off, a thunderstorm hit downtown Gainesville. The pride festival, a free event hosted and organized by the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida, was scheduled to run from noon to 8 p.m.
Many performances were informally canceled, including event headliner Kennedy Davenport from “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.”
But the show went on at University Club across the street. Festivalgoers piled in, some with soaked hair, and continued their celebration of pride despite the bad weather.
The drag performances began at 7 p.m.
Temporarily open for free, 150 people packed into the first two floors of UC to clap and cheer on dance performances by drag queens clad in capes, sequins, angel wings and knee-high leather boots with heels. They danced to songs like “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield and “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga.
UC security guard Troy Isaacs, who also performs as drag queen Tiana Avionce Black, said while the venue change was unplanned, everyone was welcome.
Keeping the festival going was important to him, he said, especially amid ongoing homophobia, transphobia and bigotry.
“When you have these festivals, you give a safe space to the unsafe,” Isaacs said. “That one day of pride, you can be free, you can have a good time, you can make new friends.”
All proceeds from the drag show, collected through audience cash tips, were donated by the queens to the pride center, Isaacs said.
And for those who showed up after the rain, the UC show made sure they didn’t miss out.
Phoenix Midnight, a 38-year-old burlesque performer, watched the show from outside the club, her intricate show outfits and makeup exchanged for streetwear. It was her fourth time attending the pride festival. Sitting on her shoulders was her 6-year-old son, Andre, who has watched drag performances for most of his life.
“You see people of different shapes, different colors, different ages, genders, different types of people that they love,” Midnight said. “I think it’s important for him to know that so he can grow up to be a tolerant human being in the future.”
The show continued until 9 p.m., ending with showstopper Kennedy Davenport. The night lived on as UC returned to normal operations.
Before the storm
Though not everyone made it to the show, festivalgoers were still able to celebrate pride and find community before the storm hit.
The festival highlighted small businesses, which sold everything from jewelry and artwork to bedazzled cups – like the rhinestone creations of 44-year-old Beki Anderson-Orlowski, the owner of Beki Makes Things who was attending the festival for the fifth time.
“As a cis, white person I think I’ve been given a voice that not a lot of people have,” she said. “It’s important for me to be an ally.”
Other tents were occupied by political groups aiming to register more LGBTQ+ voters ahead of November midterms, like Equality Florida, a LGBTQ+ civil rights organization.
“It’s important for us to show up, make sure that we’re celebrating our joy, that we’re being visible, and that we’re showing communities we’re not going to be erased,” said 33-year-old Equality Florida member Charlie Cranson.
One of the main goals of the organization is mobilizing voters, Cranson said, and creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals to feel supported and empowered in the democratic process.
Thirty-six states in the U.S. require voters to present identification at polls, and the strictest states, including Florida, demand a government-issued photo ID. But many transgender people do not have ID that lists their correct name or gender; 53% had no form of ID with both, according to the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey.
In 2024, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles banned updates to gender markers on existing licenses, permits and IDs.
This month brings important voting deadlines on Oct. 5 and Oct. 22, the last dates to register to vote in the upcoming general election and request a mail-in ballot, respectively. Early voting starts on Oct. 24 and runs through Oct. 31.
Contact Chloe Santiago at csantiago@alligator.org. Follow her on X @csant860.
Chloe Santiago is a junior journalism major with a focus on data and coding. She previously served as one of the Summer 2026 copy editors. Her idea of fun is a scary movie or video game at night with all the lights turned off.
