Dixon’s City Council gives Pride Festival liquor allowance

DIXON – The city’s first Pride Festival is coming together.

Last month, festival organizer Andrew Glasscock sent a revised event proposal to the city after tweaking parts of the event following recommendations from city officials.

The festival will take place from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on June 18 in the 300 block of West First Street and the municipal parking lot on the northwest corner of South Peoria Avenue.

Monday, the City Council approved allowing alcohol to be carried during the event that’s purchased from Val’s Place.

City Manager Danny Langloss said the city contracts with the Dixon Chamber of Commerce and Main Street to do larger events and told Glasscock to coordinate with them.

He spoke with people from Chamber Main Street as well as the police and public works departments, and Langloss said they were impressed with how well plans were put together, from the staging and vendors to bathrooms and alcohol service.

“It’s well thought out and everything’s covered,” he said. “We’re satisfied that they’ve made all the requirements that we have to have for a festival.”

The festival would begin at 4 p.m. with a DJ and a light drag show, followed by a performance from Illinois band Invisible Cartoons from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and performances from professional drag queens the Fab Five from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., with the festival wrapping up by 11 p.m.

Last year Glasscock — who is the Pride Festival director in the Quad Cities who’s been with the organization for 15 years — wanted to bring a festival to Dixon and applied for a permit to do so April 1 for an event that would take place June 26.

He then pulled his proposal in early May after concerns the council hadn’t approved the permit and that there wouldn’t be enough time to book entertainment and solidify other arrangements.

The original event would have started earlier in the afternoon with family activities, but there were concerns about closing streets and traffic downtown.