Pride: 365.

That’s right: islanders of all ages can celebrate Pride year-round with the first-ever Always Proud festival, featuring music icons Jami Sieber and Ferron, the wizarding band Tonks & the Aurors, and a Pride Giant Puppet Pageant.

The festival will take place on Saturday, Aug. 27, at Open Space for Arts & Community.

After COVID postponed plans for a June Pride event, organizers have made use of the extra time to expand the scope of the inaugural festival to include live music and a joyous dance party.

The Prefunc

The festival will kick off with a Pride Giant Puppet Pageant featuring an all-ages performance with elaborate masks and giant puppets that have been under construction since this spring.

Vashon PRIDE Giant Puppet Pageant is a co-production of Jawbone Puppet Theater and Open Space for Arts & Community. In a lead-up to the event, founder and janitor of the Jawbone Puppet Theater, Adam Ende, has worked with community members to prepare the puppets and masks, and develop the pageant.

As a multimedia artist and a community arts organizer, Ende and the Jawbone Puppet Theater have been featured on the Seattle Channel and worked on public arts projects around the country and internationally.

The festival will also include Tonks & the Aurors, a wizard rock band for all ages playing music about Harry Potter, created and fronted by Steph Anderson.

Since 2007, Tonks & the Aurors has traveled North America and Europe playing in libraries, bookstores, and nerd conferences and has released five full-length albums and an EP.

Recently, Steph has expanded the band’s“Muggle” discography to include an additional album and three EPs featuring songs that draw inspiration from “The Hunger Games” series, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, John Green’s books, and even The West Wing.

Tonks & the Aurors is presented by King County Public Libraries.

The Puppet Pageant begins at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, at Open Space for Arts & Community. Tonks & the Aurors will play at 4 p.m.

Jami Sieber and Ferron in concert

Jami Sieber and Ferron last performed at Open Space for Arts & Community in 2019 to a sold-out crowd.

“We are really excited that Jamie and Feron are back together to perform”, says Open Space co-founder David Godsey. “It will be a powerful and musically wide-ranging concert, perfect for the launch of “Always Proud.”

After the concert, the community is invited to participate in a dance party on the Great Lawn at Open Space for Arts & Community.

These events welcome everyone, of all ages, in the community. Festivities are scheduled entirely outdoors. Doors open at 2 p.m. There is no cost of attendance to the Puppet Pageant or Tonks & the Aurors, but donations will be accepted to help cover expenses.

Tickets to Ferron and Jami Sieber are $45 for front lawn tickets, $25 for online advanced general admission, $35 for day of the show tickets at the door, and there is a limited supply of free youth tickets, while supplies last. Online tickets close at 10 a.m. on the day of the event.

This is a NOTAFLOF event at the door (No one turned away for lack of funds).