Preparations Underway for Mason City Pride, Byron Good Neighbor Days Starts Wednesday

(ABC 6 NEWS) – With it being Wednesday, we’re halfway through the week. This weekend, there are a ton of events lined up for you to go to all across our viewing area.

In Mason City, this weekend is Pride.

Pride Month ended in June, but the LGBT+ Community has been hosting it in the river city for as long as they could remember in July.

The pride festival is officially on Saturday.

There’s going to be a 5K, pet parade, a family friendly drag show, vendor booths, and so much more.

One organizer we spoke to, Megan Markos, says visibility for the LGBT+ Community is so important.

She says she knows members of the community who have left Mason City because of how they were treated.

She wants people to know today that the City of Mason City is stronger together, this event proves that.

“I love Mason City. I chose to live here, I’m not from here, I moved here. To see members of the LGBT+ Community not comfortable living here, it’s disturbing to me, I hate that. I think part of acceptance is having fun things like this and showing people that they can come down and be apart of this community together,” Markos said.

There will be Pride buttons for Sale.

Local businesses are partnering with pride so if you wear a button you get some discounts to local businesses.

There’s also a volunteer security team working with the Mason City Police Department to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Now to another event, Byron Good Neighbor Days starts today.

The fun kicks off with three new events: A kickball kick off, disc golf link up, and the paws and pics pet events.

For a full list of events, visit this link.