Hawai‘i Island Celebrates 4 Years of Pride

Hawaiʻi Public Radio | By Nick Yee (dj mr.nick)

Published July 8, 2016 at 3:24 PM HST

The 4th annual Big Island pride festival takes place this weekend in Hilo.

A parade through old town begins Saturday at noon and is followed by a musical festival near the Mo’oheau bandstand. The Big Island’s transgender community will be specifically honored at this year’s celebration, and will lead the parade.

Organizers say it’s an important year for LGBTQ rights following President Obama’s declaration of New York’s Stonewall Inn as a historical site, and the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando. Greg Lupton is the Hawai‘i Island Pride Committee Chair.

Organizers have added a community vigil to remember the victims from the Orlando shooting on Sunday evening at Lili‘uokalani Park at 6.

More information can be found at Hawaiiislandpride.org.

Tags

News Bites Hilohpr newsPride LGBTQ

Nick Yee (dj mr.nick)

Nick Yee’s passion for music developed at an early age, as he collected jazz and rock records pulled from dusty locations while growing up in both Southern California and Honolulu. In college he started DJing around Honolulu, playing Jazz and Bossa Nova sets at various lounges and clubs under the name dj mr.nick. He started to incorporate Downtempo, House and Breaks into his sets as his popularity grew, eventually getting DJ residences at different Chinatown locations. To this day, he is a fixture in the Honolulu underground club scene, where his live sets are famous for being able to link musical and cultural boundaries, starting mellow and building the audience into a frenzy while steering free of mainstream clichés.

See stories by Nick Yee (dj mr.nick)