Pride Week Underway In Twin Cities

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Here at in the Twin Cities, Pride Week has officially started.

People gathered at Como Park in St. Paul on Sunday for the Pride Family Picnic.  It's the first of several Pride events happening throughout the week.

The event encourages people to come together to talk and enjoy free food and drinks.

More than 500,000 people are expected to attend the Twin Cities Pride Festival next weekend.  To make sure everyone stays safe, organizers are working with both local and federal law enforcement.

"They get our concerns. They get where the community really is tense and nervous, but we also want to celebrate so they've been great about providing extra resources and providing the right resources," Twin Cities Pride Board Chair Scott Feldman said. "We're bringing in bike patrols, not a militarized unit, so you'll see people. We have lots of people in T-shirts that are your friends or your family that you can reach out to, but you also see law enforcement throughout the event."

There will be Pride events all next weekend, highlighted by the Pride Parade in downtown Minneapolis. It starts at 11 a.m. at the intersection of 3rd St. and Hennepin Avenue.