Oklahoma Pride Alliance PrideFest was filled with Dancing, Drag Queens, and Queer Joy

Saturday, June 24, 2023, Day 2:

Day 2 was the longest day of the festival, spanning over 12 hours, kicking off bright and early with pride-themed yoga and spin classes. Following those events, there was a queer soccer match and the Oklahoma City Thunder had a youth basketball event.

During the afternoon, it was all about the kids over at the park pavilion, there was a dance party and youth pageant titled The Royal Resistance. All five contestants did fabulously, yet one was just a little extra special and it was the 2023 winner of The Royal Resistance Miss Mizsouri Michaels. Youth Co-Chair Annie Roberts told Culturess her favorite part about hosting the youth pageant, how they ended up on the youth committee, and why it is important to include 2SLGBTQ+ youth during Pride events, their answer is below:

"My favorite part of hosting was getting to collaborate with all of the different drag artists. It was so great to see so many Queer youth doing what they love and being good at it! I didn’t want to be the youth co-chair originally, crazy enough. I applied to be on the board but leadership saw my strengths and passion for working with young people and presented me the idea of being on the youth committee! I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be a co-chair! 2SLGBTQ+ are our future. They will be running our world soon enough and I want to do everything I can to make their experience growing up Queer in Oklahoma better than my own. We have the opportunity to raise up proud and joyful leaders and I feel that’s what I’m called to do!"

Michaels performed an exquisite routine for all three rounds and executed it with flying colors. I asked Michaels’ about competing in and ultimately winning the Royal Resistance, and why it’s important to include 2SLGBTQ+ youth during events like PrideFest, their answer is below:

"“It was so fun and such an amazing experience. So they can see that they don’t have to be afraid of being themselves because Pride is all about being you, without judgement.”"

Around 8:00 PM it was time for Drag Hour once again, it was even better the second time around, this time the artists included; Yakisoba Zay Michaels, Trans Ginger, Liv N Lene, Royal Resistance winner Mizsouri Michaels, and a few others. Michaels and Trans Ginger garnered the loudest applause from the crowd, it got loud! Hosts, Yakisoba Zay Michaels and TOPATÍO created an iconic PrideFest moment, when there was titty high five on the cat walk.

Following Drag Hour, Camp Urban Pride took over and it was essentially two hours of non-stop dancing and hip hop excellence. DJ IC3 closed out Saturday with an explosive set that kept the crowd rocking until around 11:00 PM as the evening began to wind down in the park. IC3 kept the crowd energetic and engaged, she even got the kids in the crowd involved both during and after her set concluded.