Pride Kel/So

Pride Kel-So is an event brought to you by The Dreyson, the events company owned and operated by April and Shaina Dreyson. We’re not just residents of Keller; we’re deeply rooted in this community. We both are Keller High Alumni, and April currently serves on the board of the Greater Keller Chamber of Commerce.

Honestly, hosting a Pride event in Keller initially felt like a far-off dream. The town has always seemed quite conservative, or at least that’s the surface impression. But what started as a wish quickly turned into reality, almost as if it were meant to be.

We began working with the LGBTQ+ nonprofit, Badge of Pride, to secure sponsorships for a queer history exhibit. However, in the current political climate, finding corporate sponsors proved incredibly challenging. It felt like we were constantly hitting a wall. That all changed when we attended an interfaith concert supporting another LGBTQ+ nonprofit. One of the sponsoring churches immediately caught our attention because they were based right here in Keller. After a brief moment of surprise, Shaina reached out to them about potential sponsorship, which led to a meeting at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, located on the border of Keller and Southlake.

The meeting with Rev. Alan was incredibly moving. It was evident that this was not just an accepting church, but truly an affirming one. As we were wrapping up, Rev. Alan mentioned that the church owned 12 acres of land. He had always felt that Keller needed a Pride event, and knowing we had an events company, he offered us the use of their land to make it happen.

April, as always, sprang into action! She quickly made a “coming soon” post on her personal page and created a Facebook page for the event. At first, we saw some traction, which was great, but the momentum was slow. Then, “Business Post Thursday” rolled around on the very active local Keller Facebook page. That’s when everything changed! The event just blew up. Within days, vendor tables were almost entirely booked, we received hundreds of sponsorship inquiries, countless people reached out wanting to volunteer, reporters wanted to cover the event, and we were flooded with messages from people of all ages expressing how much this event meant to them.

All of this just solidified one thing: Keller and Southlake needed this. Now is absolutely the time.

We have so many people to thank, and we know that list will continue to grow. But for now, we want to give a special shout-out to three incredible individuals who immediately jumped in and offered their support and expertise: Kim Olstrup of Mid Cities Montessori | Moose & Weasel, Lucas Summers of Forever Link 2 Link, and Katie McCoy of Mindwell Therapy.