Tarrant County Gay Pride

October 5, 2016

We made it to the other side of town for Tarrant County Gay Pride.

The parade and festival was held in downtown Fort Worth. It was smaller and less organized than Dallas Pride, but still a lot of fun.

There were also a ton of people from Dallas, so we ran into a lot of friends.

: Drag Queens from Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge in the gay pride parade.

: A drag queen in the downtown Fort Worth gay pride parade.

: A float at the beginning of the 2016 Tarrant County Gay Pride Parade.

: Drag Queens from Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge in the gay pride parade.

: Another float in the downtown Ft. Worth gay pride parade.

: Strange circus floats were at the Tarrant County Pride Parade.

: Drag Queens from Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge in the gay pride parade.

: Delta Airlines had a large presence at the gay pride parade.

: There were also a lot of religious groups at the Tarrant County Gay Pride Parade.

: A rainbow cupcake at the Original Cupcakery in downtown Fort Worth.

Tarrant County Gay Pride Festival at Water Gardens

The end of the Fort Worth gay pride parade near the Water Gardens.

The end of the Tarrant County gay pride parade.

A drag queen poses at the end of the Tarrant County gay pride parade.

Drag Queens from Fort Worth’s Rainbow Lounge in the gay pride parade.

A rainbow appears from the mist of the Fort Worth water gardens at the end of the parade route.

A bullmastiff at the gay pride parade.

A woman waves a rainbow flag at the Tarrant County gay pride parade.

The Festival

The parade was well-attended but the festival was a odd afterthought. It took forever to get inside of the Fort Worth Water Gardens because there were only two people collecting the $1 entry fee and putting on wristbands.

The festival wasn’t worth the wait.

We had to buy beer and drink tickets, but there was only one place to get beer/wine and two food trucks. I’m assuming strange permit rules had something to do with some of the logistics. Maybe they’ll figure things out next year?

Performers at the Tarrant County Gay Pride festival in Ft. Worth.

The Aerated Water Pool at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.

An entertainer wearing a Pikachu costume with dogs at the gay pride festival.

A drag queen poses in the middle of the downtown Fort Worth Water Gardens.

People sit in the shade at the downtown Fort Worth Water Gardens.

The Bars

After milling around the festival for a while, we headed to some of the Fort Worth gay bars.

Fort Worth has always been a strange place to go out for me. That’s because I’ve only been to the bars during the daytime. There are 20-ish gay bars and restaurants in Oak Lawn, so it doesn’t make sense to plan a night trip to Fort Worth.

Also, I don’t really have the stamina to drive back from Fort Worth at night. (It’s far!) So the real Fort Worth bar experience will remain a mystery for now.

This day-time bar adventure didn’t disappoint however. The Rainbow Lounge had a charity drag show right after the festival. Most of the queens appeared to be from the Kennedy Davenport drag family, so it was fabulous.