The sixth annual Pettis County Pride Picnic is set for Saturday, despite recent legislative efforts targeting LGBTQ+ Missourians and the pride fest in nearby Marshall being canceled due to safety concerns.
Missouri Rainbow Rights, the LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Marshall that was planning its event for earlier this month, wrote in a statement that, “there is not adequate support to keep our event, participants, and attendees safe, which must remain the top priority when organizing any event, but especially one where our community is actively under attack all around us. We cannot and will not have an unsafe event.”
Cassie Brown is the president of PFLAG Sedalia, a group which supports and advocates for the queer community throughout western Missouri, and one of the hosts of the event.
She said pride celebrations – especially those in rural areas – are important given the charged national atmosphere.
“If you come out and you sit side-by-side with someone and draw on the sidewalk and have a burger, it's really hard to hate them, whenever you know who they are,” Brown said. “It's really hard to be afraid of someone whenever you genuinely understand them.”
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, there were at least 38 anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed by the Missouri legislature during the 2025 session, the second-most of any state.
Brown said the Sedalia Pride Picnic is “a little sweet and maybe even a little, I guess, silly “ compared to pride events in larger cities. It's being held in a local park and will include live music, yard games, free food and resource booths from local mental health and queer advocacy groups.
Some of organizations that will be present include Katy Trail Community Health, the United Way of Pettis County, PROMO Missouri - a local domestic and sexual violence prevention organization - and DeFeet, a local organization working to prevent suicides.
“Sometimes, at Pride, people will be shocked that, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn't know that this organization was going to be there and that they're supportive and that I could feel safe there,’” Brown said. “Sometimes there's just the joy of looking around and finding out that you're not alone.”
The event is family-friendly, and Brown added that she hopes as many as 200 people will attend the event this year.
“People need to know that we exist, and people like us need to know that we have the right to exist,” Brown said. “People need to see that we remain unafraid and that we're nothing to be afraid of.”
The Pettis County Pride Picnic will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hubbard Park.
The 25th annual Mid-Missouri Pridefest, which is held in Columbia, is scheduled for next weekend, October 4-5, 2025.
