Pride In Tucson - October 18

The date for this year's Pride on Parade and Celebration is Saturday, October 18, with the parade beginning at 10:00 a.m. and ending at 11:00 a.m. in Reid Park, in Tucson

Pride in the Desert is an all-day festival at the DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center in Reid Park that attracts more than 6000 participants each year. The festival features live local, regional, national and international entertainers on our main stage. In addition, we have multiple entertainment venues, commercial and nonprofit exhibitors, a food court, youth and children’s areas, and much more. Now celebrating 31 Years of Pride in the Desert, this event continues to grow.

This year’s main stage headliner will be former American Idol contestant Kimberly Caldwell. Caldwell is a singer, actress, and television personality who gained national recognition during her time on the second season of the television phenomenon, "American Idol," and is also known for her work as an entertainment correspondent and host for the TV Guide Network.

Tucson Pride are also extremely pleased to add God-dess and She and Eric Himan to this year’s entertainment line-up. God-des & She is comprised of two incredibly talented mid-western Hip-Hop & Soul singers that began their journey through the music scene with just a rhyme and a dream. These small town girls with big town ambitions quit their jobs and moved to New York in 2004 from Madison, Wisconsin. Over the last four years, it’s been their intense drive and incredible focus that has gained them their notoriety and helped them to burst onto the music scene and take the industry by storm!

Eric Himan has been described in the following way: If a mad scientist combined the genes of Jason Mraz, Gavin DeGraw and Edwin McCain and then, in a moment of brilliance, threw in some Tracy Chapman for good measure, the result would be Eric Himan. Spreading his musical seed from New England to the Southwest and everywhere in between, Himan has become an LGBT folk hero of sorts, playing festivals, clubs, bars and coffeehouses both Gay and mainstream.- Jenny Sherwin, Gay.com

In addition to these incredible entertainers, we also are thrilled to welcome back east coast singer-songwriter Gregory Douglass. Gregory Douglass has been hailed as one of the bright new stars of tomorrow and we know you will not want to miss this encore performance.

Rounding out our entertainment on the main stage, Tucson Pride are very pleased to welcome local acts as well as acts from across the state and around the nation. This year’s roster includes: 8 Inch Betsy; Clint Crishner; Namoli Brennett; Sabra Faulk and Amber Norgaard; Liz Stahler; Too Much Information; and Courtney Robbins, as well as presenting on a second stage of live entertainment, the CoffeeHouse Stage! Scheduled entertainers on the CoffeeHouse Stage include: Desert Voices; Lisa Otey & Diane Von Duerzen; Arthur Migliazza; Reveille; and T-Squares.

For more information, go online to tucsonpride.org.