COLUMBUS (WCMH) – The 35^th Annual Columbus Pride Festival kicks off at 4:00pm Friday afternoon in Goodale Park.

Accommodations include a Family Area, Relaxation Station, Leadership Lounge, Pride Patio, Tag Your Bag/Tag Your Tot, Trailblazers Tent, Teen Village, Volunteer Tent and Ohio Health: Mobile Mammography and Bone Density Screenings.

“We’re got lots of bands, music, food, festivities. Lots of people coming out to share and celebrate Pride,” said Karla Rothan, Executive Director for Stonewall Columbus.

Rothan says the Pride Festival is the agencies biggest fundraiser of the year, easily pulling in a quarter of its operating funds. She expects this 35th Pride Festival to be the best year yet.

“This year we think close to half a million people will show up here to enjoy the festivities,” said Rothan.

Security will be a top priority at the festival.The recent mass shooting in Orlando has raised concerns about security at large events like this one.

Nearly half a million people are expected to attend the weekend long event at Goodale Park. Sgt. Nick Konves, with the Columbus Division of Police bike patrol said there will be a large presence of police officers on bicycles.

“There’s locations where you can’t get a cruiser through if there’s an emergency. But a bike you can cut right through the crowd,” said Konves.

“We can make formations. We’ve actually used formations where we can get a medic, a full fire vehicle through half a million people to an injured person within seconds.”

Another security tool being used at the festival is the Columbus Police Mounted Unit.

“We’re at an advantage on being on the horses, being up where we can see into the crowd, around the crowd. So if there’s a problem going on we can see that,” explained Sgt. Robert Forsythe with the Columbus Police Mounted Unit.

For $10 you can get a PRIDE Pride wristbands and dog tags. Volunteers will be asking for $5 per day donation during the Stonewall Columbus Pride 2016 festivities.What others are clicking on: