COEUR d’ALENE — Trying on silly sunglasses was a must for fiancées Monique Barrios, Karley King and their 3-year-old daughter, Harper, during the fifth annual Pride in the Park on Saturday.

"It's our first pride," King said, wearing a round pair of groovy ruby glasses. "It's super fun."

“I’m just loving being around people who are like us,” Barrios said. “When you’re out and about it's hard to know. It’s not very common, you know? What’s standing out to me is just feeling like I belong with these people. We’re not the odd man out here."

Surrounded by sunshine and rainbows, the Post Falls family was among at least 700 people who visited Coeur d'Alene City Park to experience a vibrant festival set on the first day of June. June was chosen as Pride Month to celebrate the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community and its allies, as well as commemorate the Stonewall riots, which helped launch the LGBT movement.

The festival included educational booths, lots of live entertainment, food vendors, kids activities and an overall summertime picnic community feel.

"The mayor (Steve Widmyer) read a beautiful proclamation of equality and diversity and support from the city,” said North Idaho Pride Alliance founder Juli Stratton. "We’re incredibly grateful to the mayor for his support on behalf of the city."

North Idaho Pride Alliance secretary Emily Aizawa said the amount of support for the event was humbling.

"We’ve had so many volunteers,” she said. “It’s just been so incredible the amount of people that have come through and wanted to participate, wanted to get involved. It’s just incredible to see the support the community is giving us right now."

Heritage Health, which has an LGBTQ advisory committee, brought its mobile clinic to the festival. This was Heritage's fourth time participating in the event.

"I'm honored to be here. It's an honor to participate in an event where there's such a reach-out into the community," said Laura Bonneville, behavioral health consultant and licensed professional counselor. "(The LGBT community) is an underserved population. As much as we have mental health stigma in our cisgender straight community, I think there's more stigma for people in that community. It's harder to reach out because not only are you reaching out for a mental health service, you're reaching out and coming out to your provider. Wow.

"There's support," she continued. "It's a little sad to me that a lot of people don't know about the support available unless they come to this event. I wish there was a way to connect with the community to make them aware to all the services that are available... This event is wonderful, don't get me wrong. I wish we could do this every weekend."

Info: www.nipridealliance.com