For the last few years, the pagan community in Louisville has held a festival on the waterfront to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox as well as increase awareness and acceptance of their diverse religious beliefs.
This year, the Louisville Pagan Pride Day festival happens on Saturday, October 6, at the Brown-Foreman Amphitheatre from 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Admission is free but they do ask for a donation of a non-perishable food item for Dare to Care. The event is one of the largest independent events to donate to Dare to Care and in 2011, 634 pounds of food was donated. Like many more mainline religious communities, the pagan community feels a strong call to practice social responsibility and share their abundant harvest with those in need.
Louisville Pagan Pride Day is a chapter of the international Pagan Pride Project, a non-profit organization whose focus is to foster pride in Pagan identity through education, activism, charity and community.
Louisville Pagan Pride Day supports this mission locally with the festival, inviting community members to join in the celebration of the Autumnal Equinox through educational workshops and presentations, entertainment, shopping and charitable donation.
I have visited the festival for the last few years and have always had a good time. You don’t have to be a pagan to attend and it is a very family friendly event. Last year, in fact, my family and I brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed a meal as we watched some of the performers. There’s always cool stuff to buy from the merchants and I personally like the information available on the various pagan beliefs, groups, and events in the area. It’s also a good place to people watch.
So, if you are looking for something to do this weekend, grab the family, some non-perishable food items and come down to the Brown-Foreman Amphitheatre and mingle with some of your fellow Louisvillians who just happen to also be pagans.
For more information,
http://www.louisvillepaganpride.org/
Photo courtesy of Louisville Pagan Pride/Facebook
