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Fair Rachel Platten to headline 2017 Long Island Pride celebration
Musician will perform on June 11 at Pride on the Beach concert
Musician Rachel Platten, best known for her 2015 hit single “Fight Song,” will headline this year’s Pride on the Beach concert on June 11, organizers announced on Friday.
“I am so excited to be supporting the LGBT Network,” Platten said in a video that was posted on the organization’s Youtube and Facebook pages. “I cannot wait to see you guys there!”
The singer and songwriter rose to fame in 2015 with the release of the single "Fight Song," which peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, topped the UK Singles Chart and reached the top 10 of multiple charts worldwide.
Rumors had circulated in recent weeks that Cyndi Lauper, the B-52s or another major headliner was set to perform at the beach concert, which is scheduled for 1 to 6 p.m. on June 11.
THe LGBT Network announced Friday on WALK 97.5, K-98.3 and 106.1 BLI that Platten would perform at the event.
“We're beyond excited about Rachel Platten," said David Kilmnick, a Long Island Pride co-founder and chief executive officer of the network. "She brings not only her Billboard hits but her music comes with an uplifting message of unity and standing together, and that's what we’re really trying to bring to the theme of this year’s pride event. Her music resonates across all demographics and boundaries, races and sexual orientation, and it will be a positive and uplifting feel for the event — with a serious message as well.”
Thousands of people are expected to come to Long Beach for the 27th annual Long Island Pride celebration June 9-11.
The event, Pride on the Beach, organized by the LGBT Network, is expected to attract about 10,000 people over the course of the weekend. It will include a parade, a 5K race and a family fun run on the boardwalk, a beach concert, a boat parade along Reynolds Channel, a Shabbat service, a beach party and activities, a market fair with hundreds of vendors, a cabaret night at the library, a memorial paddle-out, programs for LGBT youth, and a Taste of Long Beach and other events aimed at driving visitors to local shops and restaurants, organizers said.
“We’re very excited to welcome the pride festival to Long Beach," City Council Vice President Anthony Eramo told the Herald earlier this month. "I believe it’s going to be a great weekend of family fun activities, and highlight the inclusive nature of our beautiful city."
The parade on June 11, called Rise with Pride, is expected to draw 5,000 to 7,000 participants, and is the official solidarity march for the tri-state area. It will coincide with a national LGBT march in Washington that day, and will mark the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., where a gunman killed 49 people.
“It’s going to be really special,” Kilmnick said last month. “It’s an LGBT pride march, but it’s about bringing all the groups together. We’re getting the traditional groups signing up, but it’s going to be a very diverse makeup of groups and causes. We have everyone from schools marching to both the Nassau and Suffolk County police departments marching. And for the first time, the Boy Scouts are marching.”
The LGBT Network has partnered with the City of Long Beach, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, TD Bank, Arizona Iced Tea, Northwell Health, South Nassau Communities Hospital and others to organize the event.
As the Herald reported last week, organizers said that they have been working closely — and meeting regularly — with the Long Beach and Nassau County police departments, as well as other law enforcement agencies. LGBT Network will also bring in its own private security to oversee the event.
