COVINGTON, Ky. – Flags are flying and floats are gonna roll. (And there WILL be drag). It’s NKY Pride 2023 in the city where “Y’all really means all.”
Beyond that annual celebration of inclusivity and welcoming attitude, there’s a lot of other fun to be had this weekend here in The Cov (some of it involving doughnuts).
Prepare for a top-shelf entertainment experience when Braxton Brewing Co. and the NKY Pride Center kick off NKY Pride 2023 with a celebration of community, equality, and acceptance for all at the Pride Rooftop Drag Show & Watermelon Raddler Release.
Note that $1 from every pint or 6-pack that’s sold tonight will be donated to NKY Pride, and the organization will receive all proceeds from purchase of Pride T-shirts.
What’s better than a warm, so-fresh-it’s-squishy, sugar-laden yeast donut that’s just emerged from a vat of bubbling oil?
Friday is National Donut Day, and you’re advised to head to Moonrise Doughnuts for a satisfying sugar high, because they are going to have “ALL” of your favorite doughnuts and more.
What does “more” mean? Hot dogs, chips, soft drinks, beer from Alexandria Brewing, live music, balloon animals, a special hot Devil’s Food doughnut, and soft serve ice cream. (Mm, how does a dollop of soft serve between two glazed doughnuts sound?)
While you’re in MainStrasse Village on Sunday celebrating Pride, stop over at The Village Theater for Banding Together: A Concert for Children’s Cancer.
The event raises funds for the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Oncology Division and includes a lineup of incredibly talented local/regional musicians like Noah Wortherspoon, Ben Walz, Danny Frazier, Matt Waters, CFG & The Family, Chalk Eye, and Muleshine. You’ll be supporting important work (Wouldn’t it be great if the words “children’s” and “cancer” were never said together again?) while listening to excellent live music.
Get your bike in good working order Friday at the Bike Service Happy Hour at the Devou Golf & Event Center (you’ll find the details when you scroll down to “Miscellaneous”) … then ride over to the Queers with Gears 2023 Ride for All at Roebling Books & Coffee.
A partnership composed of Lil’s Kitchen, Roebling Books & Coffee, and the NKY Pride Center, Queers with Gears recognizes, empowers, and celebrates the Queer+ community and its allies throughout the region.
Bikers roll out of Roebling Books and will make their way to Darkness Brewing in Bellevue. (Anyone needing an escort bike ride back to Covington will get it.)
How tall is your stack at this point? Six books high? Maybe 12?
Admit it, you have two towering stacks of unread books because you kept coming across all those really good books at either Conveyor Belt Books or Roebling Point Books and Coffee, (where you’d run into a friend whose opinion you respect, and thus be introduced to yet another great author, and you purchase that book too, and then …)
There you have it. We get it. It happens. We’re not shaming. In fact, there’s a gathering Saturday for you and others like you who lack book buying boundaries.
Find Your Voice: Summer Reading Celebration Kickoff at Kenton County Public Library celebrates the beginning of summer reading with an event in the Midtown parking garage, just across the street. There will be a word art community quilt, face painting (because this whole book addiction starts early), balloon twister, Kona Ice, cotton candy, beverages, a Global Water Dance, a Heart & Soul Skipper Jump Rope team, and Zak Morgan in concert. But the best part may well be that they’ll have oral history kits for you to learn how to use and record interviews with your family and start writing you own books to add to your stack.
By now, we’re sure you know: NKY Pride 2023 Y’all Means All happens Sunday. The festival will begin in Goebel Park at noon, and it’ll feature drinks, vendors, entertainment, and the like. The park is also the end destination of the parade, which launches from Madison Avenue at 1 p.m.
If you’ve never attended, there will be thousands of people lining the streets and filling the park for some inclusive fun. It is truly a robust gathering.
And you can end your day at the Official NKY Pride After Party at Hotel Covington, which is consistently the bombdiggity, the humdinger, most awesome possum of parties. Don’t miss it.
Tonight: The Missy Werner Band at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub & Restaurant.
Friday: Johnny Burgin Band with Ben Levin at Dee Felice Café … Forest Hills Bluegrass Band at Wunderbar … Estrada do Sol Trio at Juniper’s … Unrivaled with Starless, Third Person Omega, and The Rather Unfortunate at Madison Live.
Saturday: Ohio Is For Covers at Strasse Haus … Passion & Power Tour with Painted Platinum, Mason Pace, Cinema Stereo, Dead Humor, Bank Tape at The Rooftop at Madison Theater … Daniel Noel ‘Nomad’ Album Release Party with Daniel Noel, Lydia Shae Crone, and D’Mil at Madison Live … Curbside Attractions Songwriter Showcase at Wunderbar.
And then there’s …
Tonight: Juneteenth flag raising at 6 p.m. at Randolph Park … The Art of Fashion: Fay Applegarth Maddux at Behringer-Crawford Museum.
Friday: Head Out on the Highway – Resources for Audiobook Appreciation Month at Kenton County Public Library … The Art of Fashion: Fay Applegarth Maddux at Behringer-Crawford Museum … Devou Night Rides at Devou Park … Bike Service Happy Hour at Devou Golf & Event Center.
Saturday: Covington Farmers Market at 3rd & Court Streets … MainStrasse Village Food Tour … The Art of Fashion: Fay Applegarth Maddux at Behringer-Crawford Museum.
Sunday: Covington Parks & Recreation’s Future Galileo Night at Austinburg Park . ... Casual Social at Covington Yard … Official NKY Pride After Party at Hotel Covington.
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