Three things to do this weekend in Johnson County, including Pride festival in Coralville

The first University of Iowa football game of 2022 kicks off Saturday, marking the start to a season of Iowa City traffic, black-and-gold gear galore and hopefully many wins.

Weekend fun begins Friday with the return of the annual FRYfest in Coralville, celebrating everything Hawkeyes. On Sunday, Coralville will host its second Pride festival.

Here are three things to do this weekend in Johnson County:

Coralville's 2nd annual Pridefest

Last November, Coralville welcomed its first Pride event held at Tavern Blue, featuring vendors, food and folks from the community.

Pridefest in Coralville returns Sunday, now an outdoor festival held at 1152 Second St. in Coralville near New Pioneer Food Co-op.

Coralville’s Pridefest is presented by Reach Out Marketing, owned by Tim Nedoba, who dreamed of having a Pride festival in Coralville for years before it came to fruition in 2021, the Press-Citizen reported last fall.

Nedoba wanted to hold a festival at a time when UI students would be around to attend.

“That was the real idea, premise, behind it was to do something when the university community and students would be around and be able to participate in a local Pride fest,” Nedoba, the event coordinator, told the Press-Citizen last year.

Here is the schedule for this year’s Pridefest:

• 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Live Radio remote from iHeart Media Cedar Rapids and Iowa City

• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.: Recognition of honored guests, Pride Honor Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022

• 3 p.m.: The Quire of Eastern Iowa

• 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Iowa City Community Theatre

• 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.: The Recliners of Iowa City

• 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Chris Jehnert of Larger Than Life Ultimate Boyband

FRYfest in Coralville

The 13th annual FRYfest returns Friday.

This year’s theme celebrates 50 years of UI women’s athletics as Title IX, adopted in 1972, spurred UI to elevate 12 women’s club sports to varsity status the following year.

FRYfest, named after former UI football coach and College Football Hall of Famer Hayden Fry, launched in 2009 and kicks off the Hawkeye football season by presenting an array of programming all related to the beloved football team and its legacy.

Visitors can expect FRYfest’s free Hawkeye tradeshow, live music from Iowa City’s James Tutson and longtime band Dogs on Skis, and a pep rally featuring the Iowa Spirit Squad and Hawkeye Marching Band.

Throughout the day will be tournaments, autograph sessions and a panel on UI women’s athletics and Christine Grant, UI’s first women’s athletic director and a pioneer in women’s sports.

Grant died Dec. 31, 2021 at 85.

Here is a schedule of FRYfest:

• 9:45 a.m. to 8 p.m.: World’s largest Hawkeye tradeshow and kids zone open

• 9:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.: Poster giveaway and artists autograph session

• 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.: 2022 Hall of Fame class panel

• 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: FRYfest Games pickleball tournament

• 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.: FRYfest Games bags tournament

• 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Iowa Women’s Wresting autograph session

• 10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.: 2022 Hall of Fame class autograph session

• 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Live HERkys’ Voice podcast

• 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Dan Gable autograph session

• 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.: High Porch Block Party kids zone open

• 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Stories on Christine Grant and 50 years of UI Women’s Athletics panel

• 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.: football season preview with Gary Dolphin and Ed Podolak

• 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: Ultimate Hawkeye trivia challenge

• 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Iowa Women’s Basketball autograph session

• 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.: High Porch Block Party opening band featuring James Tutson

• 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.: Pep Rally

• 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.: High Porch Block Party band Dogs on Skis

• 8:45 p.m. to 10 p.m.: High Porch Block Party concert featuring Restless Road

FRYfest is held at E. Ninth St. at the Hyatt Regency Coralville Hotel & Conference Center.

'A Yellow Rose Project' at UI

A photographic project in response to the 19th Amendment will be presented at UI through Sept. 30 in the Levitt Gallery in the Art Building West.

Titled “A Yellow Rose Project,” more than 100 women in America were asked to contribute photos in response to the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which gave women the right to vote.

“From inception, the goal of this project was to provide a focal point and platform for image makers to share contemporary viewpoints as we approach the centennial of this event, to gain a deeper understanding of American history and culture, to build a bridge from the past to the present and future,” according to the project’s website.

One of the participating artists is Thalassa Raasch, assistant professor of photography and experimental media at UI.

“A Yellow Rose Project” is presented by the UI Photography Program in partnership with the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and Gender, and Women’s and Sexuality Studies.

Though people can visit the Levitt Gallery to see the photographic project through the end of September, there will be an opening talk and reception on Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. The Art Building West is located at 141 N. Riverside Dr.

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or (319) 519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Things to do this weekend in Johnson County include Coralville Pride