Kerry Aldred, Kerri Mijok and Krista Schade had the idea to celebrate the parade’s anniversary by watching it on the big screen together and it has turned into a community-wide event. 

Ms Aldred said they are so excited by the positive response they have received, and although it is the first event, signs are pointing to its success. 

“We’ve got 16 registered groups or floats and we are overwhelmed with that,” she said. 

“We thought we were going to be lucky to get four, and one of those would have been our own personal float.”

Reactions to the event in the community have been mixed. Locals are warming to the idea, however, as Ms Aldred and other organisers demonstrate the event is about inclusion and fundraising rather than agenda pushing. 

“We have been trying to get across to everybody that this is not a gay parade, this is a parade of people gathering as one to raise money for our cancer patients,” she said. 

“They’re changing their attitudes.

“People that we had approached for sponsorship locally who indicated that they probably weren’t interested have since come on board.” 

Tourism has often been raised as a market that Hay needs to tap into, and the brains behind the parade think this is the perfect opportunity to entice visitors. 

“We may be in the middle of ‘nowhere’ but we are caring, loving, accepting and we want to show everyone how welcoming we can be,” Ms Aldred said. 

Ms Aldred said that there had been an outpouring of support from people outside of Hay who are excited at the concept of a ‘bush mardi gras’. 

“Most of our tickets that we have sold so far are basically from out of town,” she said. 

Ms Aldred said that the event is even more special following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia, and she hopes the celebration will allow the fractures created by the plebiscite to heal. 

“Hopefully other towns will do something similar. We are the start of a huge change in the bush,” she said.