Perthshire Pride set for return

The success of Perthshire’s firstever Pride festival has spurred organisers to pledge this year will be bigger and better.

Just 300 people were expected to attend the inaugural event last August but the event’s directors were shocked and overwhelmed when almost 3,000 turned up.

The group has since been awarded £10,000 from the National Lottery community fund, Awards for All Scotland, to help them with the costs of running the 2019 event.

Pride co-founder and chairwoman Claire Mackenzie said: “We asked them to fund our stage hire – last year we didn’t have a stage – and better sound equipment.

“Last year we didn’t have the best sound equipment and we didn’t expect as many people as we got – we only expected about 300-350 and we got 3,000 – so the sound didn’t travel well.

“We’ll also have venue hire – we’re hiring the Concert Hall.

“We will be starting with a parade at 12pm, going from South Inch car park to the Concert Hall.

“There’ll be local bands, talks, we are also hoping to have a ceilidh – or as we are calling it a Gay-lidh.

“There will also be stalls for local charities and businesses plus national organisations.”

Perthshire pride will take place on August 10, just months after the start of a Perthshire Pride campaign that aims to make Perth and Kinross one of the most LGBT-friendly places in Scotland.