SPECIAL EVENT: Thousands will be out and proud for Saturday’s Central Arkansas Pride Parade and Festival

North Little Rock’s Argenta Plaza becomes a “safe space” Saturday for thousands of LGBT Arkansans and their allies when Central Arkansas Pride Festival kicks off with a parade at noon and full day of festivities including music, a kids zone and stage, a family zone, food trucks, 112 vendors and booths, speakers and, yes, drag performers from all over the state.

On Sunday, the celebration continues at the Clinton Presidential Center’s Great Hall with a brunch provided by the center’s 42 Bar & Table restaurant, an open bar and entertainment by festival headliners Lillie McCloud, an internationally famous R&B singer, and Esera Tuaolo, a singer and former NFL player and champion of his own organization called “Hate Is Wrong.”

The brunch is particularly important and symbolic because, “We’re really the only Pride that has partnered with a presidential library,” says Joe Johnson, communications director for the nonprofit Central Arkansas Pride organization, where he and the other staff members are volunteers.

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