Organisers hope for event in Sittingbourne

One of the county's most successful LGBTQ+ festivals is to return later this year with visitor numbers expected to be their biggest yet.

Swale Pride is an annual celebration which aims to promote and educate communities with its vibrant and inclusive LGBTQ+ summer event.

First set up five years ago, this year's jamboree will take place at Oasis Academy in Sheerness on September 2.

Steven Pullen helped create the experience back in 2018 and the 34-year-old insists this year's main gathering will once again showcase its growing popularity.

"We did our first event in Faversham, but obviously the pandemic halted a bit of our progress," he explained.

"We obviously had our main event in Sheppey last summer as well and were, and still are, hoping to get another location in Sittingbourne at some point too.

"But every year the numbers are going up and up which is fantastic and it shows how important the event is.

"Our first year had just under 1,000 people attend whereas last year we had quite a bit more than that, so we're predicting around 1,500 for September all being well - possibly 2,000 if we were really ambitious.

"Because finding locations is difficult, the main event will probably stay at Oasis Academy rather than doing anything further because we just don't have the logistics and numbers."

Some of the activities on offer in September will include live music and carnival games aimed at all age groups - with a potential new feature also on the horizon.

Mr Pullen added: "We're building our volunteer base up more and more with a great committee, and we have a lot of people coming in to help us with all the activities we plan to do and help us focus on schools so they can raise awareness of the LGBTQ+ community.

"There will be local stalls, live music and a range of fun activities that could even have a funfair in place as well.

"Some of the people who performed certain things last year have said they want to get involved again, so in the near future we will confirm that in more detail."

The celebration in Swale will also follow other popular weekends in the county this year, such as Canterbury Pride - which takes place on June 10 and 11 - and Folkestone Pride on July 29.