Despite temperatures hovering around 90 degrees and a threat of rain earlier in the week, roughly 100 people flowed through the 500 block of Buckeye St. on Saturday to celebrate the LGBTQ community at the 2024 Kokomo Pride Festival.

Music from a DJ could be heard from about a block away. Visitors who followed the music found people dancing, taking group photos in front of a rainbow backdrop and more than 20 vendors.

“It feels great to be back here,” said Christina Ralston, a volunteer with Kokomo Pride. “Every year, so many wonderful people come out.”

Several generations were represented in the crowd of people. Some wore colorful flags as capes, others sported colorful hair and tie dye. A handful of their dogs wore rainbow bandanas.

Sheyenne Adams, a Kokomo Pride board member who leads the celebration, said the annual festival was on the same track in its third year as past celebrations, but with a handful of different vendors and more of a focus on community outreach.

“That’s what Pride should be for, it’s supporting the community,” they said.

There are always some nerves leading up to the celebration, Adams added, but they were glad for the day to finally come.

“It’s a party,” they said. “It’s so much fun.”

However, they also acknowledged there was a deeper meaning to the celebration. It recognized the efforts and progress made since the 1969 protest that took place in Greenwich Village, New York, that sparked Pride celebrations across the country.

Adams said they’re still trying to make progress.

“We like to come together to celebrate, but we also need to remember where we came from,” they said. “Just having an inclusive safe space for everyone to express themselves, it just warms my heart.”

PHOTOS: Kokomo Pride

Some of the community resources were more generalized — organizations like the Excel Center, Kokomo-Howard County Public Library and Community Howard Regional Health set up booths at the celebration.

Others, like Equality Indiana, were geared more toward the LGBTQ community.

The nonprofit organization is based in Indianapolis and hopes to make changes via the political arena.

Stephen Greiner, a volunteer with the organization, visited the celebration to help register voters and keep them up to date on candidates.

“We have a fight ahead of us,” he said of Indiana’s political atmosphere. “We do believe we can make a difference through the ballots.”

Trinity Haven Indy, another organization at the celebration, spread awareness of resources open to young adults in the LGBTQ community.

Will Turpin-Doty, a volunteer with the organization, explained the organization aims to curb homelessness among Indiana’s LGBTQ youth. Applicants bteween the ages of 18 and 24 are able to spend up two years in a transitional living facility owned by Trinity Haven Indy.

He explained young people are good at not being tracked among homeless communities. Instead, they often stay at friends’ houses.

But when those young adults get a bit older, he added, there’s a chance they could wind up living on the street. The organization is aware of roughly 40 young adults who are homeless in Marion County, which Turpin-Doty said is comparable to other cities of similar sizes.

Homelessness can become a real threat to LGBTQ youth when their parents refuse or struggle to acknowledge and affirm their children’s identities, Turpin-Doty said.

Sometimes, he said, young people aren’t simply being kicked out of their homes. They’re deciding to leave because staying would be harmful to their mental health.

“We allow them to live authentically while they’re pursuing their goals,” Turpin-Doty said. Sometimes he added, that means getting their mental health in order. For others, that looks like finishing high school, college or learning a trade.

Inside Sun King Kokomo, an assortment of pride flags hung on the wall.

While the outdoor festival began winding down at 6:30 p.m., Sun King Kokomo employees were still hard at work inside the brewery, serving drinks and setting up for a drag performance after party.

Biz Bates, a manager at the brewery, said it usually stays fairly busy during the celebration. As a sponsor, 10% of Sun King’s sales went back to Kokomo Pride on Saturday.

“Sun King is really big on being inclusive,” Bates said. “We want to make sure everybody is comfortable in their skin and comfortable coming to a brewery and feel like they’re welcome.”