How We Started

Waco had celebrated LGBTQ+ Pride in the past, but had not had a large-scale city-wide festival for ten years. That changed in 2017. After a crop of conversion therapy billboards sprouted up around Waco, organizers took the initiative to bring Waco’s LGBTQ+ community back out into the open.

Organizers originally planned on a small picnic … what ultimately occurred was the first “OUT on the Brazos Pride Festival.” Roughly 400 people turned out, the event was a huge success, and the organizers were able to raise funds to host future Pride events.

In 2018, organizers expanded efforts and became an official nonprofit 501(c)3 as the Waco Pride Network. Following a second successful OUT on the Brazos, the organization began its first full fiscal year and formally took over pride planning for 2019.