Main Street Kent is preparing for its inaugural Rainbow Weekend which will be a celebration festival of the LGBTQ+ community. 

This event will be held downtown on the weekend of March 6 and 7. Various events will start as early as 6:30 AM on Friday and run as late as 2:00 AM Sunday morning.

Heather Malarcik, Executive Director for Main Street Kent, said that the weekend will be full of activities made for both families and adults to enjoy. 

Rainbow Weekend will consist of many different activities such as art exhibitions, live music, comedy shows, a bar crawl, drag shows, poetry, educational support and accessible resources. 

The Kent State LGBTQ+ Center will be conducting a safe space ally training as well. 

While there is no entry fee for the event, some entertainment does require the purchase of a ticket such as the bar crawl and the Judy Gold Comedy Show.

A portion of the proceeds will go to the LGBTQ+ Center emergency fund, which helps assist people of this community when they are put in a financial situation due to the lack of assistance from those around them.

“If you believe in equality, we want you there,” said Ken Ditlevson, the director of the Kent State LGBTQ+ Center.

Tickets for all additional events are on sale now along with the sale of Rainbow Weekend T-shirts. Any additional information, details and the itinerary can be found on the Main Street Kent website at https://www.mainstreetkent.org/events/kent-rainbow-weekend/. 

Theresa Lovrak covers construction and downtown. Contact her at [email protected].