An extravagant show of culture and pride is set to happen on Saturday, April 12, at the Mercado San Agustín complex — a merging of community traditions in celebration with people who couldn’t be happier about what they do. This will be the first-ever Latino Pride Festival in Tucson, celebrating Latino pride and LGBTQ+ individuals.

The organization behind the event is the Latino Pride Alliance, a non-profit that established itself in 2017. According to their website, their mission is “to engage our Latina/o LGBTQ youth and allies, community leaders and organizations to educate and address issues of family acceptance, bullying, homophobia, xenophobia, family separation, violence against youth, homelessness, high health risk behaviors and HIV/AIDS.”

As a way of promoting awareness of their organization, they have put on at least four annual shows in Phoenix. However, this will be the first show in Tucson, with seemingly future plans for annual shows.

“In Phoenix, they already have it going. It’s a tradition,” festival host Ruby Reynolds said.

With the success seen in Phoenix, the organization wanted to expand the show’s mission.  

“They wanted to branch out,” Reynolds said. “They wanted to venture out more and more, and Tucson is right next door.”

In Reynolds’ description, these festivals generally feel like a party, with DJs, singer-songwriters, full bands and drag queens. According to Reynolds, it’s fun for the whole family and not an exclusionary show. 

“Everyone gets to have a good time,” Reynolds said. “It’s celebrating our culture.”

Tickets are on sale now at the Pride Alliance’s website.