THOUSANDS IN SHOW OF UNITY AT PRIDE CYMRU
Cardiff was alive with colour, music and fun over the weekend as Pride Cymru’s Big Weekend 2017 took over the city.
The fun-packed three-day festival featured music, food and plenty of love for the LGBT community.
Pride Cymru’s Big Weekend 2017 was a merger of Pride and Cardiff’s Big Weekend, which was last held in 2011.
The ever-popular Big Weekend was always one of the key events in the Cardiff calendar, turning the City Hall lawn and streets surrounding it into a carnival of colour, with funfair rides, amusements and entertainment, as well as some of the UK’s biggest names in music.
Pride Cymru brought back the Big Weekend, with three days of party atmosphere and extravagant entertainment in the heart of the Welsh capital, celebrating and promoting the importance of LGBT in the community.
Taking place from Friday to yesterday, the event saw a colourful parade, with funfair rides and music acts including Into The Ark, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and Charlotte Church.
On Saturday more than 2,500 people joined the parade through the city centre as the streets were lined with flag-bearing supporters.
This year marked a change from Pride Cymru’s previous location at Coopers Field, after the site was used as a temporary location to accommodate hospitality guests during the Champions League final in Cardiff in June.
Depending on funding, it looks like the event is set to stay at the City Hall lawn for the next five years.
Pride Cymru’s chairwoman Lu Thomas said the decision would rest on the event’s ability to secure funding.
Ms Thomas said: “The council has agreed that Pride Cymru can use the Cardiff City Hall lawns for the next five years – however this will be fund-dependant.
“We’ve enjoyed a hugely successful event this weekend, with an estimated cost of £365,000. However, we will need to assess post-event whether financially we can continue to bring Pride Cymru’s Big Weekend to the capital in the years to come.
“We’ve had a huge amount of support and we want to thank everybody who’s come along and enjoyed the festivities. We hope to be able to host Pride Cymru’s Big Weekend in the years to come.”
Also joining the celebrations was a Cardiff politician who revealed a hidden talent.
Stephen Doughty, Cardiff South and Penarth MP, is a keen a cappella singer and he joined in with the festivities by getting on stage yesterday afternoon and singing the classic Queen song Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
His group is called House of Chords, a play on the name of the Netflix hit series House of Cards.
The Labour MP said that he had always been involved in a number of a cappella groups, but this was a new venture.
His co-stars included a lawyer, parliamentary researcher and a member of BBC staff.