Gay community prepares for Pride Festival

The date for this year's Lincoln Pride Festival has been announced.

The launch party for the 2010 event was held in Christopher's bar in Newland over the weekend, and the Lincoln Pride committee revealed it will take place on Saturday, August 21.

Although the acts are still to be confirmed, organisers say they want to make it bigger than ever before.

Chair of the committee Laura Wint-McKane said: "The calibre of the acts will depend on the level of sponsorship we get.

"Christopher's are our first official sponsors and we are really pleased to have them on board.

"It is great that Lincoln has more than one gay venue but Christopher's really bonds the whole community together.

"We are hoping that some businesses will see that sponsoring us is a good way of increasing their turn-over."

Last year reality TV stars such as Same Difference from the X-Factor and the Dream Bears from Britain's Got Talent took to the stage.

Following the reality TV line, the organisers of Lincoln Pride 2010 are holding a series of talent auditions to find three faces to promote this year's festival.

Miss Wint-McKane said: "There will be a Mr, Miss and Drag Act to be the faces of Lincoln Pride.

"We are holding the first open talent auditions on June 12 and 13 and then the acts will be whittled down to six in each category and we will pick the winners from there."

Christopher's will be the venue for many of the pre-Pride parties planned for the coming months.

Proprietors Adam Shorter and Luke Lloyd came from Brighton where they were both involved in Brighton Pride.