Where to celebrate Pride this June in Cincinnati

Several cities throughout the Tri-State will host Pride festivals this summer, some of them for the first time.

The festivities kick off this weekend in Hamilton and Northern Kentucky. On Saturday, June 1, Hamilton will hold a march and festival in its downtown area. The event will start at Rotary Park and finish at Marcum Park by the river.

Hamilton Pride organizer Taylor Stone-Welch says support for the festival has been strong since it started a few years ago and has continued to be a source of hope for LGBTQ+ individuals in the community.

"Every Pride event I have some magic moment where a family is walking by and they say 'hi' and we get to talking, and they're like, 'Hey this is our son. He just came out to us last week. We were so excited when we realized that Pride is here, and we brought him to show that we love and support him,' " Stone-Welch told WVXU. "We're constantly getting those types of messages from people who actually live in this area who feel like it's a personally empowering and impactful thing to come to our event."