This year’s Pride festival moved to downtown Green Bay, and one of the event organizers and County Board member, Rachel Maes, said it “felt right” to finally have it there.
“We brought the party to Green Bay in June,” Maes said June 20. “So, we can celebrate Pride month the right way.”
The festival was held in the area of Green Bay City Hall. By noon rainbow flags were filling the block with tables and attendees were already arriving for the event.
Green Bay Pride organized this year’s festival along with other events throughout June.
In recent years, the N.E.W. Pride Festival has been held at the Brown County Fairgrounds in September.
Green Bay City Council member Joey Prestley, one of the event organizers, said there is value to having the festival in front of City Hall.
Maes added that there is representation in different governmental levels in Wisconsin, which is “more than we ever have before.”
The festival began at 1 p.m., and 15 minutes later tables were filled and people filled the block. People of all ages attended the event to show support and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich spoke at the event, proclaiming June 20, 2026 as Green Bay Pride Day.
He said the event was a celebration of freedom, “freedom to love, the freedom to live, the freedom to be who you are.”
“And in Green Bay, that’s what we’re all about,” Genrich said.
Hundreds of people flocked the streets to take part in the day’s festivities.
In the early afternoon a small group of protesters arrived at the event. A Christian-affiliated group had one person holding a large wooden cross and another a sign that read “Jesus Saves.”
Some in the the crowd responded. One person followed them around holding a sign that read, “you’re going to heaven, god loves everyone.” A young attendee went up and placed a Pride sticker on the wooden cross.
The protesters were almost hard to notice as Pride flags and clothes filled the streets in a sea of rainbow.
Ivanna Schleep, a local drag queen, hopes people leave the event feeling prideful and that they belong. She was ready for the day of celebration in her rainbow dress matching the rainbow fishnets she had on.
“It’s important to be loud and proud and to be unapologetically you,” Schleep said.
Candice King, a community health worker for Healthfirst Network attended the Pride festival and said that people should love who they love and be who they are.
She added that she wanted to get the word out that Healthfirst, a nonprofit clinic in central Wisconsin, was opening a new location in Green Bay.
King said the Pride events are filled with the happiest and most welcoming people.
“It’s nothing to be scared or ashamed of,” King said. “We need to be more accepting and kinder to everyone.”
Kathryn Byrnes is a reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at kbyrnes@gannett.com or 920-431-8526.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Hundreds gather for downtown Green Bay Pride festival on June 20
Reporting by Kathryn Byrnes, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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By Kathryn Byrnes, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
