While Pride month is in June, the annual Duluth-Superior Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Plus (2SLGBTQIA+) Pride Festival kicked off their four day Pride celebration Thursday night. Down at the Duluth Depot members of the community gathered for the opening reception. Mayor Roger Reinert of Duluth says this annual event is incredibly special for the Twin Ports area.

“New this year for the first time ever, we will be lighting the Aerial Lift bridge tonight. In honor of Pride weekend here in the Twin Ports,” Mayor Reinert said. “While it’s our Aerial Lift bridge, it’s definitely a symbol of our Twin Ports community.”‘

Mayor Reinert also says the volunteers with the Duluth Superior Pride Committee plays a critical role in making the festival inclusive to everyone.

“It highlights for me a couple of reasons why we do this. Number one, it’s symbolizing us as a community and being welcoming. You know, in my state of the city, I said, ‘if there’s one thing that I want you to measure me by, it’s that we’re going to grow again.’ We’re going to get over 90,000 people again,” Mayor Reinert said. “That means being a welcome community to all. And this is just one way we symbolize that.”

Mayor Reinert says the City of Duluth is also using their Equity and Inclusion Task Force to help create more opportunities for diversity internally.

“We’re really proud of an internal committee that’s been working on equity and inclusion issues. Not just around Pride communities, but also around our personal diversity, economic diversity. So that’s what we’ve been doing internally. For us as an employer, as an organization, we’re almost 900 employees,” Mayor Reinert said. “We are in the same hyper-competitive environment as everyone else. We know that we need to be an organization that not just says we’re welcoming, but actually does the work. So our Equity and Inclusion Task Force, led by a really great group of city employees with some support, really symbolizes that.”

Also here’s a list of the fun events happening this weekend for the 38th Duluth Superior Pride Festival. Although there are also several other stories about Pride this year.