‘Pride is for everyone’: Heartland Pride moves to new venue; what you can expect

OMAHA, Neb. —

Heartland Pride is eager to celebrate this year in a space not only new to them but new to Omaha.

“We are the first festival that will be in this building, so we are the guinea pigs to try out and see how it works,” said Olivia Morgan, logistics coordinator with Heartland Pride.

The Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement just opened in March and includes various event halls, which will be filled with vendors. Omaha Performing Arts can’t wait for the event to christen the space with the first festival.

“We waited not a really long time, but a good amount of time for our new Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement to be open,” said Aletha Kuhn, OPA senior manager of community partnerships. “It’s just very exciting to see people in here activating the space.”

The event isn’t confined to the Tenaska; it will take over the entire campus, including the Holland and the Steelhouse.

“It’s just able to be very well organized and laid out,” Morgan said.

“You can expect performances, you can expect vendors, you can expect lots of color, lots of vibrant fun activities for families, and that includes children and adults,” Kuhn said.

The various rooms and buildings will separate the vendors from the performers, so be sure to wander around. Morgan said the event will feature an outpouring of community support from support groups, health departments, city organizations and the local government.

“We are a facility that has many different facets to it,” Kuhn said. “It just made sense for us to partner with Heartland Pride because there are different aspects of the festival.”

Whether you’re coming for the parade, the drag or the joy, Morgan wants to remind you that you are all welcome.

“Pride is for everyone, and we really want to reinforce that and really give that to people,” Morgan said.

Youth Pride starts Friday evening at 5 p.m. The annual Pride Parade kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning and the festival doors open at noon. Performances from comedian Margaret Cho, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 11 competitor Nina West and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 15 winner and former Miss Continental Sasha Colby will carry celebrations through the evening.

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