ORLANDO, Fla. – Downtown Orlando’s Rosalind Avenue will be shut down for one of the city’s largest celebrations as more than 220,000 people are expected to attend the annual Come Out with Pride event on Saturday.
David Bromstad, HGTV star and Orlando resident, expressed his excitement about being asked to serve as the grand marshal for the parade.
“There’s very few things I haven’t done in my career, but this is something that was always on my bucket list. You can’t say you’ll do it, you have to be asked,” Bromstad said.
Bromstad emphasized how safe he feels in the city as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “I’ve never felt a safer place, and I travel everywhere. This is the safest place for me as a queer person,” Bromstad said. “I’m looking forward to everyone’s outfits.”
Tatiana Quiroga, executive director of Come Out with Pride, said the event is especially significant in a “post-Pulse” Orlando, referring to the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub.
“Like it or not, Pulse had a lot of silver linings and transformed the community that we have,” Quiroga said. “We have relationships with the city of Orlando and law enforcement that a lot of cities don’t have because of Pulse.”
This year, the parade will take a new route to accommodate the growing crowd. Organizers worked with city officials to move the event to wider streets.
“It was a good problem to have,” Quiroga said. “The stretch on Central is beautiful, but it’s too narrow. We worked with the city, and they said, ‘OK, you’re too big, we need wider streets.’”
Vendors have been setting up all day Friday to prepare for the crowds. Many are looking forward to the business the event will bring.
“What are you hoping for this weekend?” one vendor said. “To sell out, that’s it. And meet a lot of beautiful people.”
Come Out with Pride organizers expect this to be their largest event yet, which is good news for small businesses downtown.
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