INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indy Gay Market hosted its annual “Big Gay Pride” festival on Saturday and Sunday on Monument Circle. 

“We are vendor-focused so we try to make sure that the vendors feel cared for and celebrated in our event, so we are connecting them to each other, as well as to the community,” Lead Coordinator at Indy Gay Market Hannah Hadley said. 

Over the weekend, the artisan festival featured 100 Queer vendors, with 50 showcasing their products each day. 

The two-day pop-up market aims to promote visibility for the Queer community in the city and beyond. 

“It’s everything you could want and everything you never knew you needed,” Indiana Gay Market Vendor and Event Coordinator Jay Drew said. 

Indy Gay Market was founded in 2021, and was the first event of its kind to feature solely Queer vendors. 

Many of those vendors say the event is a staple to the start of Pride Month. 

The idea was first dreamed up by several Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis students who were seniors and studying art at the time. Several of those students are still involved in the grassroots organization. 

That close-knit community allows their vision to come to life, and keeps the featured artwork at the center of the event. 

“It’s just people really enjoying art and appreciating it,” Vendor Ricardo Villafane said. “It’s just been great. We’ve just been meeting strangers and it feels like we’re all just buds.”

This year’s market was also designed to honor Indy Pride trailblazers. 

In 1984, hundreds of Hoosiers gathered on Monument Circle to display their solidarity with the Indianapolis Queer community. The city’s Pride week was then celebrated quietly until 1990. 

Now, on those same steps, the Queer community says they are celebrating loudly. 

“It’s such a cool thing to be occupying this particular space in Indianapolis,” Hadley said. 

“We get to continue what they started, and we get to show that we are here, we’re queer, we’re proud,” Drew said. “We have a place in the community and so much value.”

As the group continues on that legacy, they say their list of vendors is growing exponentially. 

Those interested in becoming a vendor can click here for details.