Wagga Mardi Gras 2022 organiser Holly Conroy announces plans for street parade and after-party

This year's Mardi Gras will boast floats full of excited LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies partying alongside the Gold Coast's finest drag queens for an all inclusive, family-friendly night.

The city's first Mardi Gras was held in 2019 with huge success and support behind this year's street speculator has tripled following a two-year, COVID-induced hiatus.

"We've got almost 60 floats this year compared to 19 floats in 2019 so the parade is going to be three times as big, the atmosphere is going to be three times as big, and it's just going to be amazing," Wagga Mardi Gras founder and organiser Holly Conroy said.

Ms Conroy continues to be a prominent voice within the region's LGBTQIA+ community, and sponsors of this year's event have commended her for being a tremendous advocate.

"As a trans person that spent a lot of years hiding in their bedroom absolutely terrified of being honest with who I was ... I needed to find a way to show people that the community was going to support them," she said.

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"The driving force for me is so people don't have to go through the same hardships as what other people like myself and other trans and gay people have gone through over the years."

One of this year's key sponsors is Charles Sturt University, which says it is proud to support inclusivity in regional NSW.

"Partnering with Wagga Mardi Gras really cements within their students that they're going to a place that's accepting," Ms Conroy said.

CSU Associate Professor Cate Thomas said that the university's support of an event promoting the messages that Mardi Gras sends has positively impacted not only the students but the staff and broader community.

"As an individual who does identify with the LGBTQIA community, it's been absolutely wonderful," she said.

"Myself and others feel like we can be our true selves, and people are recognising us as valuable individuals which is how it should be," she said.

The Wagga Mardi Gras will be held on Saturday, March 12, with the street parade commencing at 5pm and a free after-party in the Victory Memorial Gardens.

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