DROGHEDA PRIDE IS HUGE SUCCESS

DROGHEDA’S second annual Pride Festival was launched with a flourish on Friday as the rainbow flag was raised at Millmount and a sea of multi-coloured balloons set sail from the rooftop.

Organised by local man Peter Nugent, who also runs the Drogheda LGBT group, the event was a huge success last year with great support from the general public and local businesses and this year’s event proved to be just as successful with family fun, samba, entertainment and a summer barbeque.

Peter welcomed everyone to the historic centre at Millmount for the grand launch on Friday afternoon and Sinn Fein Councillor Joanna Byrne was on hand to officially cut the ribbon and mark the start of the festival.

On behalf of the Old Drogheda Society and the Museum Centre, of which he’s chairman, Donnchadha MacRaghnaill welcomed everyone present and said the organisation was proud to have them there. ‘What little facilities we have we place at your disposal,’ he said.

Jeffrey Nilsen read a poem he wrote specifically for the launch of Drogheda Pride which included the lines:

So now we show our faces and do it with Pride, and build up a community side by side.

And now we bid you a hearty welcome, one and all

Eat, drink, be merry.

Please have a ball.

‘ This is the second year of Drogheda Pride and it’s even bigger and better this year,’ Peter told the Drogheda Independent. ‘ This year our theme was inclusion and it’s great to see so many people turning out for Pride this year.

‘We’ve had great support from all the people who turned out to the launch and at all the events that took place over the weekend.’

Peter said the festival received even more support this year than the inaugral event in 2016 and said he hopes it will continue to grow and flourish in years to come.

‘We were so excited to have such a great line up of events this year, which included Paul Ryder from Ru Paul’s American reality TV series Drag Race.

We were delighted to have her as ringmaster to host Drogheda’s Pride this year alongside Victoria Secret.

‘It was great to see all the local businesses showing their support in Pride this year, they’ve beem promoting our events and got their staff involved too which is just fantastic.’

There was a fun filled and varied schedule of events throughout the weekend ensuring there was something for everyone at Drogheda Pride.

From a family fun day to a Samba spectacular with the Samba Mamas leading the charge, the festival proved once again to be a huge hit.

Following two nights of entertainment the weekend ended on a high with a barbeque in Odd Mollies on Sunday.