PEORIA, Ill., — Thursday evening kicked off the River City Pride Festival.

The Peoria Chiefs celebrated the LGBTQ community and asked several local drag queens to come out and participate.

There’s a lot of to do and see this weekend including bar crawls, performances and even health screenings. Free testing and hepatitis a vaccinations will be provided.

Ms. Flo NoMo’, local drag queen, said she thinks the city is taking a step in the right direction.

“I think in the time and the age that we have going right now it’s time for us to just be who we are and stop hiding away, it’s a rough time in America right now so why not just amplify ourselves and be like hey here we are,” she said.

Peoria Proud is looking for volunteers to help during the festival. Click here for more information on how to sign up.