The “Out in the Burbs” Pride month celebration scheduled for June 7 in downtown Oak Park is the result of years of hope and ambition, according to Darien Marion-Burton, executive director the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce.
Marion-Burton said he’d hoped to establish a major Pride month event in Oak Park ever since ascending to a leadership position with the local chamber, aiming to create something that could simultaneously celebrate queer culture and LGBTQ+ inclusion while also promoting Oak Park’s economic and tourism interests.
Days before the festival’s first fully-realized edition, he believes Out in the Burbs will prove to be just that.
“We have been trying to think about Pride at the chamber for four years and I think that really started when I came on as board president, I ran as the first openly queer person in that role,” he said. “I really wanted us to think about how we educated our businesses about Pride. That was successful and so we said ‘OK, let’s dig into more.’”
The event is co-sponsored by the chamber and Oak Park’s village government. Marion-Burton said the chamber expects to welcome around 3,000 attendees.
The festival will be held in a blocked-off section of Marion Street between Lake Street and North Boulevard from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday. The event is free to enter, but there is a suggested donation of $10.
The festival will feature an musical lineup featuring queer artists, professional drag performances, a food court and bar, tents for vendors selling handmade goods, queer-owned businesses and community resource organizations.
Marion-Burton hopes that Out in the Burbs can grow into a signature event for the village driving regional tourism and be a beacon of community spirit for the Cook County suburbs.
“As an organization we are committed to economic vitality, and tourism is a big part of that,” he said. “I want this to be positioned as a thing for people from Rockford, Milwaukee, people from Chicago that don’t like big crowds. We want this to be something that celebrates queer people and drives tourism.”
The festival aims to be the largest Pride event in the near-west suburbs this month, but it will hope to enjoy a boost from other events happening in the area this week, including downtown Oak Park’s first “First Thursday” event of the summer, Forest Park’s June 6 Pride event and River Forest’s Pride and Inclusion Walk which happened Monday evening.
Marion-Burton said he hopes to see the event eventually grow into a multi-day pride celebration.
Part of the festival’s grounds will be dedicated to a “Teen Pride Zone” open only to attendees aged 13 to 20, that will feature free ice cream, face painting and more. That aspect of the event came as a result of Marion-Burton meeting with the Pride Club at Oak Park and River Forest High School and fielding suggestions from the students.
A 30-year resident of Oak Park, Marion-Burton said he hopes that Out in the Burbs will be the kind of community event he wished he had growing up in the village.
“I’m doing the stuff that 18-year-old me thought I’d be doing,” he said. “Now it’s actually happening.”
He said he is also proud of how the chamber’s entire leadership structure has committed to investing in the event, particularly at a time where queer inclusion and other diversity efforts face steep political challenges.
“We are saying that as a community we are bought into this in spite of everything that’s going on,” he said. “It’s so ingrained in the values of our community.”
A large pride event like this hasn’t existed in or around Oak Park before, but Marion-Burton said it’s here to stay.
“This event is about making space — boldly and joyfully — for love, identity, connection, and community,” the festival’s website reads. “It’s for the queer kid growing up in Forest Park, the trans couple living in Berwyn, and the ally business owner in Oak Park who wants to stand up and show support.”