Connor McFayden of Lincoln cleans up broken tents on Saturday morning at the Star City Pride Fesitval space near Pinnacle Bank Arena. Heavy rain and wind damaged vendor booths and the stage. Vendors and volunteers on Saturday took down tents, folded chairs and tables, stacked cinder blocks and wrapped up tarps after heavy rain and wind Friday night wreaked havoc on the festival site for the annual Star City Pride Festival.
The thunderstorms, which cut short Friday's festivities, also forced the cancellation of Saturday's featured event, the Pride Parade around the Capitol. Star City Pride President Andrew Dominguez Farias said the volunteer board members were on the phone until 11 p.m.
Friday, trying to come up with solutions, but safety was the top priority. They ultimately decided to cancel the parade and move the festival entertainment indoors to Das Haus, a bar on O Street, since rain had destroyed sound and visual equipment set up for the outdoor festival stage. Members of the Star City Pride board survey the damage around the festival lot Saturday after an overnight storm damaged booths set up for the Star City Pride Festival.
Daniel Anderson, owner of Stratum Productions, said he didn't know the extent of the damage, but estimated nearly $100,000 worth of equipment was destroyed. More than 70 organizations and vendors had planned to set up booths at the festival lot north of Pinnacle Bank Arena. Some packed up Friday when a pair of storms hit Lincoln between 5-10 p.
m.,.