Day of fun and colour as community comes together for racing and pride
It was a day to join together, have a flutter and celebrate inclusivity in all its forms.
The Race with Wolverhampton Pride event was a full day of racing and entertainment at Wolverhampton Racecourse at Dunstall Park, featuring a full racecard and special events and entertainment throughout the afternoon on Saturday.
Organised as a collaboration between Wolverhampton Pride, Wolverhampton Racecourse and Gorgeous Radio, the event was a change to bring together the excitement of horse racing with the vibrancy of Pride.
Around 1,000 people attended the event over the course of the day, with a Pride market selling rainbow goodies and and offering information about Pride, a live performance from Valentin Velle and a DJ set from Jordan Cable from Gorgeous Radio.
There were rainbow colours everywhere and many of those attending were dressed in bright and vibrant colours and waving rainbow flags or carrying inclusivity signs.
Kieran Simpson, senior equality, diversity and inclusion advisor for Wolverhampton Council and project leader for Wolverhampton Pride, said the whole day had been a good one with lots of good feedback from people attending and spoke about how it came about.
He said: "The event came about after Wolverhampton Racecourse approached us after Wolverhampton Pride this year and said they wanted to do something a bit different and wanted to get in tune with the LGBT+ community.
"Between myself, Gorgeous Radio and the racecourse, we were able to put on a truly unique day celebrating racing and the LGBT+ community and a lot of people came to me to tell me that they really enjoyed it and I think it really opened a lot of eyes.
"It showed that the racecourse is a safe space for the community and there were so many rainbows there, which was amazing to see, and the atmosphere was just electric where people could be what they wanted to be."
The event also saw the official launch of Pride 2024 in Wolverhampton, to be held on Saturday, June 8 on Old Market Square with a large range of entertainment and events.
Mr Simpson said the idea of the racing event was to make sure people knew that Pride wasn't just one or two days, but could be celebrated at any time.
He said: "The whole idea of what we're trying to do as a council is to ensure that every place in the city is available for everybody to be who they want to be and this was just one step along the journey.
"The racecourse were really thankful for the work we've done and they really enjoyed it, so the racecourse were really supportive of what we're trying to do and they were really positive partners, as were Gorgeous, who were really positive and worked hard to put the event on."
