Pride Tide Festival: Alcohol-free youth music event celebrating diversity and culture comes to Geraldton

Preparations are in full swing for the Pride Tide Festival, Geraldton’s first LGBTQIA+ event targeted at youth which promises to be the region’s biggest celebration of youth, music and culture. The festival will be held at Regional Sounds on Friday, November 1, and is designed specifically for the community’s youth. The alcohol-free not-for-profit event is organised by Headspace Geraldton and tailored for those aged 12-25. It aims to showcase diversity and provide an outlet for the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies and showcase local talent. The festival will feature seven local musicians, a silent disco, food vans and a line-up of both established and emerging high school artists. Performers include Alexia Parenzee, Ratsalad, Good Strife, Okabella Mae, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, The Aftermath, and Yeah Nah Yeah. Pride Tide committee member Ziggy Abbott, 18, said planning had been ongoing for the past six months, including fortnightly meetings with members of the community to ensure the festival was made for youth by youth. “We’re really trying to focus on getting queer people from the community to put into an event that’s about queer people in the community,” they said. “I think there’s a niche that needs to be filled, which is young queer kids. I know that when I was in high school, I would have loved to have a Pride event or just anything to celebrate and recognise that there is a community here.” The community has been preparing in the lead-up to the event, painting and participating in workshops to build their skills in event catering, Mx Abbott said. “It will be good to see and to just get a kind of a sense of community going, I suppose, where people can come in and see something that they’ve contributed to,” they said. “You know, something to put on your resume and get real life experience of event organising.” The festival will kick off at 5pm until 8pm for those aged 12-16, and restart from 8.30-11pm for 17-25-year-olds. Pride Tide Festival is supported by the Department of Communities and Mid West Development Commission. A Headspace Geraldton spokesperson thanked Sweet Orange Productions, Regional Sounds, Lemonade Events, Ghost Note Audio, Rigters IGA and Agricultural Region MLC Sandra Carr for their support in bringing the event to life.