CASPER, Wyo. — June is Pride Month, and this year Casper Pride plans to celebrate the local LGBT community’s past and present with a slew of events.
Pride Week 2025 runs from June 12 to June 15, but events are scheduled throughout the month, including a pair of Pride Month skills workshops with local therapists.
Casper Pride will host a “Rooted and Resilient” workshop on June 4 from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and is open to people 13 and older. A workshop entitled “Finding Your Voice,” open to those 16 and older, is scheduled for June 7 from noon to 1:30 p.m. Both workshops will be hosted at the Center at Melrose and will be free and open to the public.
Also on June 7 will be a NOH8 photo shoot at the Hilton Garden Inn from 2 to 4 p.m. People can get individual shots made for $40 or group photos for $25 per person.
On June 9, Casper College will host “Queer Vitality in the Equality State,” featuring music, storytelling, discussion and more with musician Inda Eaton. The event is scheduled to run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the student union lawn.
And on June 12, local bookstore Bookin’ It will host a Pride-themed Lego night, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. People are required to RSVP ahead of time, as spots are limited.
Organizations and businesses looking to host their own Pride events can reach out to the community organization for details on partnering, executive director Mallory Pollock said.
“This year, we’re really trying to use our platform to promote affiliated events,” Pollock said. “They can submit it through our website and we’ll put it on our events page.”
Pride Week officially starts on Thursday, June 12 with the annual kick-off event, this year to take place at Frontier Brewing Company. The event, which runs from 5 to 9 p.m., will feature karaoke starting at 5, LGBT trivia beginning at 7, non-alcoholic beverages covered by Casper Pride, food trucks and more. Those who want to participate in the trivia will need to register ahead of time here.
“It’s a casual, fun way to kind of start the festivities off,” Pollock said.
The kick-off event is one of the key events that Pollock has said is an annual staple.
“We’ve been doing this for a number of years now, and we’ve been able to iron out what our core events are,” she said.
Another core event is the Pride Drag Show, which has two showings on Friday, June 13, at Backwards Distillery. The first begins at 5 p.m. and the second is slated to start at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here for the early show and here for the late show.
Queens at this year’s shows will include Denver-based artists Felony Misdemeanor, LuLu Krystals and Jolene From The Bank. Pollock added that this will be the last time longtime emcee Kai Lee Mykels will host the event, as she is retiring from drag in the near future.
“Kai took a chance on us the very first year we did this, and has come back every year since then,” Pollock said. “She always brings some amazing performers with her. … It’s not going to be the same without her.”
Another core event is scheduled the following morning and afternoon, with Casper Pride Fest at David Street Station from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 14. Dozens of vendors will be on-site, including local nonprofits and community partners, as well as artisans and other local businesses. Live music and other performances, activities for all ages, food trucks and more will also be found.
Buffalo-based drag queen Porcelain Hughes interacts with an attendee at 2024’s Casper Pride Fest. (Tommy Culkin, Oil City News file photo)
Pollock said Eaton will be a “headliner” at Pride Fest.
Later that evening is Pride Teen Night, scheduled for 6-8 p.m. at Artisan Alley. Registration isn’t required but encouraged, and people can sign up here. Participants will paint a Pride-themed piece with glow-in-the-dark paint, and wearing neon colors is encouraged for the glow-in-the-dark party.
The final core event of the week is the Pride March on Sunday, June 15, that will make its way through the streets of downtown Casper. The march itself will begin at 11:30 a.m. at ART 321. However, participants are encouraged to arrive beforehand for breakfast and arts projects, starting at 9 a.m.
“There’ll be arts supplies for people who want to make posters, buttons and that sort of thing,” Pollock said. “One thing I’m really excited about is we’ll be painting bricks, which ties into our theme this year.”
The theme of this year’s Pride Week is “brick by brick,” which Pollock said references how Casper Pride has worked to become ingrained in the local community.
“It speaks to how Casper Pride has built this presence in the community very intentionally,” Pollock said. “We’ve taken our steps, navigated it so we’re a really strong representation of the community and worked with our partnerships to become a strong voice.”
This year’s Pride Week theme ties into a larger, ongoing effort to chronicle and archive the local community’s LGBT history with a project organizers have dubbed “Save Casper’s Queer History.”
In recent months, Casper Pride has hosted archiving days, where people have submitted pieces of memorabilia, personal items, historical documents and more that are related to Pride in the Casper area, and LGBT life more broadly.
“It doesn’t have to be Pride-related per se,” Pollock said. “We had someone donate a wedding invitation for a gay wedding. That’s an example of something that isn’t related to any Pride event, but is still something we love to have.”
Following the march on June 15, festivities will reconvene at ART 321 where people can learn more about Save Casper’s Queer History and how they can contribute. Pollock stressed that Casper Pride isn’t only looking for memorabilia from the past, but items from the present too.
“It might not feel like it now in the moment, but years from now people will look back at this time as history,” she said.
Casper Pride is working on a website dedicated to the project, which Pollock expects will go live during June.
Information isn’t the only reason to stick around the march, Pollock added, as a community barbecue will also mark the end of the week’s celebrations.
“It can often feel isolating, especially in a place like Wyoming,” Pollock said. “I think it’s important for people to gather in community and see that they’re not alone, and that’s why I think Pride is important.”
Casper Pride’s full schedule of events can be found here.
