COEUR d’ALENE — North Idaho Pride Alliance’s annual Pride in the Park celebration is set for 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at City Park. 

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Pride in the Park, a free event aimed at “celebrating diversity and building a stronger and more unified community for all.” 

“Pride saves lives,” said Dr. Sarah Lynch, executive director for NIPA.

More than 3,500 people from across the Inland Northwest attended Pride in the Park last year.

“It shows that this is a community who values our queer neighbors and cares for them,” Lynch said.

This year’s event could be another record breaker, according to organizers, with more vendors, volunteers and community sponsors than ever. 

The event will feature community resources and entertainment from local performers at the bandshell. The headliner is Amelia Day, a Washington-born singer-songwriter who blends folk, rock and pop sounds. Day will perform at 4:30 p.m. 

“At some point every year, I’m able to stop and just look around and see folks just enjoying themselves in authenticity and love and joy and being themselves,” Lynch said. “That’s the purpose. Folks can take an opportunity to come out and celebrate who they are in a safe place that the community has created for them.”  

This year’s event is the NIPA’s past and present. 

“We’re bringing in some of the original founders of NIPA and we’ll be honoring them as grand marshals,” Lynch said. 

After a decade of Pride in the Park and other NIPA efforts, Lynch said there’s much to celebrate. She pointed to NIPA’s Pride scholarship as an example. 

“Because of the huge support of our Pride endowment fund, we were able to award not one but two Pride scholarships to queer youth in our region who are going on to pursue college degrees.”