LGBTQ Utahns and allies will have even more opportunity to show their pride the first weekend of June: at the annual Utah Pride Festival, and at a new alternative Pride event that will be happening across the street.
Two businesses in Church & State are teaming up to put on the “Pride Show Side Show,” a circus-themed festival and market that will showcase LGBTQ performers and vendors inside the co-working space at 400 South and 300 East. The annual Utah Pride Festival is typically held at nearby Library Square and Washington Square Park.
The Pride Show Side Show on June 4 will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is specially designed to be affordable and accessible for attendees and vendors alike, said Mariah Fralick, who is the proprietress of the curiosity shop Bell, Book & Candle inside Church & State and is organizing the event along with Cafe Juniper.
In February, LGBTQ artists and makers who previously set up shop at the Utah Pride Festival expressed frustration over an increase in booth prices for this year’s event. Officials later clarified that the price increase wasn’t as steep as it initially seemed, attributing the mixup to miscommunication.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) From left, Alize-Marley Ferraro, Kaya Carina Pierre, Ash Ferraro and Sophia Gray hang out at the Utah Pride Festival at Washington Square on Saturday, June 4, 2022. A new alternative Pride event will be held across street this year.
Fralick said the Pride Show Side Show is “a little bit in response to that, but not in a way that means to take away anything that they are doing and the work that the Pride Center does.”
Instead, Fralick said the alt-festival is just another option for would-be vendors who can’t afford to pay up to $2,000 for a booth at the official festival, or between $375 and $750 if awarded a scholarship, as booth prices are listed at UtahPride.org.
At the Pride Show Side Show, vendors can rent a booth for $65. The alt-event is also free to enter, while tickets for the Utah Pride Festival are $15-$20.
Rosa Bandeirinha, communications director for the Utah Pride Center, said in an email that “we are always glad when individuals and organizations in our community celebrate Pride as well. We are thrilled to have more events adding to the celebration.”
Most of the businesses at Church & State are either queer- or women-owned, Fralick said, “so we all have that ethic of really, really celebrating with the queer community and creating accessible space.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mariah Fralick in front of her Bell, Book and Candle shop at Church & State, on Tuesday, March 14, 2023. A new alternative Pride event will be held this year at Church & State, located across the street from the annual Utah Pride Festival.
Fralick said the alt-event is going to be “very fun, very colorful” with lots of “oddities and curiosities,” featuring the people who “couldn’t get on the list or couldn’t afford the list across the street.”
People interested in having a booth at the Pride Show Side Show should reach out to Fralick at mariah@bellbookandcandlevintage.com. The deadline to apply is April 20.
Correction • April 5, 11:45 a.m.: This story has been updated to reflect the number of businesses in Church & State that are queer- or women-owned.
