Fox Valley Pride lands at Neenah's Riverside Park after downtown hiccup

NEENAH — Organizers will hold the Fox Valley Pride 2024 festival at Riverside Park, satisfying their goal of expanding beyond Appleton but falling short of their desire to congregate in downtown Neenah.

The event will run from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 22 and feature a drag show, family activities, poetry, musical performances by Betsy Ade & the Well-Known Strangers and Traveling Suitcase, and more than 70 vendors offering goods and resources.

Dana Johnson, CEO of Fox Valley Pride LLC, said he expects 3,000 attendees.

Fox Valley Pride, formerly Appleton Pride, is an annual festival that provides hope, healing and support to members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

Johnson initially sought to hold the festival in the 100 and 200 blocks of West Wisconsin Avenue in Neenah's downtown business district. He secured a conditional special-event permit from the city, only to be informed later that city officials determined closing the downtown blocks to traffic would be bad for business.

Relocating to Riverside Park at 500 E. Wisconsin Ave. offers advantages and disadvantages.

On the plus side, Riverside Park has more space and can accommodate more vendors. It also opens the way for more food trucks.

"Originally, I wanted to limit that to not compete with the downtown businesses," Johnson told The Post-Crescent, "but at this point, we'll expand that to as many food trucks as possible."

On the minus side, the festival won't generate foot traffic to support downtown Neenah businesses, and it won't be able to offer alcoholic beverages. Neenah forbids alcoholic beverages in all city parks.

Two downtown Neenah businesses — Santé Wine Bar & Bistro and Little Siam — are sponsors of the festival.

"We can say to the people who are attending the festival that these are two of the downtown businesses that have supported the festival and if you get a chance, we'd love it if you'd stop in and thank them for their support," Johnson said.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Fox Valley Pride moves to Neenah's Riverside Park after downtown snafu