Richard Gathright is the director of NWA Pride Weekend. He came to the Anthony and Susan Hui News Studio earlier this week to preview the 2026 celebration, running June 26 through the 28th. He says organizers are expecting the biggest attendance yet.
Gathright: So we've got CeCe Peniston on Saturday that we're super excited about. Finally she's here.
Kellams: So the press release announcing said "finally" —
Gathright: We put that in. It's a reference to one of her most popular songs. We thought that was a good tagline to lead with. And then we have Baby Tate showing up on Friday and everybody is excited about that. At least everybody I've talked to that's under 40. CJ had to tell me who they were. And some of my friends that are in their twenties fell out of their chair. So I was like, OK, we've done something good.
Kellams: That's a very interesting point because Pride is a festival where you see people whose ages begin with an eight all the way down to whose ages begin with a one.
Gathright: Correct. We always have to think about that. And I think this is a good mix for every age group this year. We've got plenty in between that'll be filling our times on the stage on Friday and Saturday.
Kellams: I interrupted when you were talking about the entertainment.
Gathright: On Friday, we'll have DJ Keanu kick off at 6 p.m., and then 7 p.m. will be the Trans March, which will last till about 7:30 or so. Then we'll have the rally on stage, followed by our Dickson Divas Drag Show that evening. And then Madeline Stone, who's a local artist, will be performing after that, and then Baby Tate to round off Friday night.
Kellams: And that's just Friday.
Gathright: That's just Friday. And then, of course, Saturday has the parade. We're doing something a little different this year. We're going to kick the festival off at noon and the parade at 6 p.m. this year, to kind of give everybody a little extra hour in the morning to get ready. Kind of saves me a little bit — I don't have to be out there at five, I can be out there at six. And that 6 p.m. parade start time, the sun starts to drop a little bit then. So we think it's going to help. We'll see how this goes, and maybe we can push it a little bit further next year.
Kellams: Oh, I would love to have a nighttime parade.
Gathright: I think that would be so, so cool. But it's going to take a few more years to get to that because I know there are a lot more safety concerns about doing this at nighttime. But it would look really cool to encourage people to light up the floats.
Kellams: So the parade is at 6 on Saturday night. But there are things leading up to that.
Gathright: We've got the festival kicking off at noon. We'll start out with DJ Native on the main stage, then move over to Mount Comfort, which is a local band that'll be playing on the main stage for the first time. Then we have our Dickson Divas Drag Show, and then we're bringing in this awesome band from Philadelphia called Laura and the Girls. They'll be here at 3 p.m. on Saturday. DJ Heartthrob will take over at 4:15 p.m., leading into CeCe Peniston at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, and then the parade will follow at 6 p.m.
Kellams: You've been doing NWA Pride Weekend for a while. I don't know if easier is the right word.
Gathright: It's getting a little bit easier now that we have the Upper Ramble — we're not having to move from parking lot to parking lot every single year now. We do kind of have a pretty set footprint now that we can play with, which does make things easier. But there are always challenges with any large event going on — there's always something that comes up.
Kellams: Is Pride Weekend more important in 2026 than maybe it's been at another time?
Gathright: I think it's a lot more important in 2026 than it's been in other times. Especially, I'd say, the first six years of this decade — Pride has been frankly more important than it has been, just with everything going on in this country and in the world.
Kellams: So what does someone have to do to participate?
Gathright: Nothing, really. You just show up. In addition to what we have going on on Friday and Saturday, we have our kickoff happy hour at Maxine's Taproom at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday the 25th. Pizzeria Ruby is going to be there doing food, and then later that evening DJ Anthony Taylor is going to be spinning some sick beats on the dance floor. So we hope everybody shows up on Thursday. And then on Sunday, we'll wrap up Pride Weekend with High Tea up at Mount Sequoyah.
Kellams: This week, news that the Tyson Family Foundation is supporting NWA Pride.
Gathright: This is something I'm very, very excited about that we've been working on for about a year now. Olivia Tyson called me after Pride last year and announced that this was in the works, and I basically dropped the phone and started crying. This is just an incredible gift during a time where small Pride organizations are not receiving the funding that they normally did to put on Pride — because of multiple reasons. It's mostly political.
Kellams: A $500,000 gift that will be spread over five years. That means the Tyson Family Foundation is a presenting sponsor at least through 2030.
Gathright: I just cannot thank them enough for putting themselves put there in the forefront for the LGBT community in northwest Arkansas.
Kellams: How much does it help to have a very familiar — not just local and regional, but national and international — name?
Gathright: It makes a huge difference. I think it brings a lot of credibility to what we're doing here. If they see that the family of one of these super large corporations is taking notice and giving and caring, I think it changes the game.
Kellams: What do you do during the weekend? Do you get to enjoy it?
Gathright: Not really. No. My deal is I want everybody to have fun. As long as everybody else is having fun, I'm great. That's all that matters to me — do people have a good time, a good, safe time?
Kellams: What's the squad of volunteers like?
Gathright: It varies. They're really good in the morning. But as the day goes on they start to peter out. It is late June. It's hot. People are drinking, having fun. I don't blame them.
Kellams: We have an emcee for the parade?
Gathright: Yes. This year our emcees will be Taylor Madison Monroe and Rob Bailey.
Kellams: Where can people see a schedule, get the lay of the land?
Gathright: Everything — including tickets for Glitterville, which we still have a few left — can be found at nwapride.org or any of our socials, Facebook and Instagram specifically. Glitterville will be at George's Majestic Lounge on Saturday night. Doors open at 9 p.m. There are still a few general admission tickets left, and we still have tickets available for the high tea pool party up at Mount Sequoyah.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
