Organisers of Turnhout’s free LGBTQIA+ festival are turning to vegan strawberry-filled doughnuts after the inaugural Love Out Loud event attracted around 500 to 600 visitors, rather than the hoped-for 1,000. The colourful fundraiser, due for delivery on World Coming Out Day, aims to help close a €5,000 to €10,000 shortfall while keeping the festival’s local Pride ambitions alive.

Essential Takeaways

  • A difficult first year: Love Out Loud welcomed roughly half its expected audience at its debut in Turnhout.
  • A sizeable shortfall: Organisers estimate the festival ended between €5,000 and €10,000 in the red.
  • A sweet fundraising plan: Vegan pink doughnuts with strawberry filling and rainbow-heart decoration will be delivered on 11 October.
  • The festival will return: Organiser Sam Vos says a second edition is planned, with fresh funding applications under way.
  • Community support matters: The event’s website highlights partners, volunteers, performers and the Love Out Loud Village as key parts of the festival experience.

Turnhout’s new Pride festival starts with a financial wobble

Launching a festival is never cheap, even when entry is free. Love Out Loud’s first edition in Turnhout drew an estimated 500 to 600 people, leaving organisers with a projected loss of €5,000 to €10,000.

That gap is especially striking because the team had hoped to welcome about 1,000 visitors. Still, the festival’s own online material presents it as a broad community event, bringing together music, performances, activities and a dedicated Love Out Loud Village rather than simply a single stage and a crowd.

Why sponsorship proved difficult to secure

The practical planning phase only began around six months before the event, according to the report from 31mag. By then, many larger sponsors had already committed their annual budgets, while some grant deadlines had passed.

That timing problem is familiar to grassroots organisers. A festival can have strong local support and a compelling idea, yet still struggle if its funding calendar doesn't line up with the moment the project becomes real. Love Out Loud’s partners page and volunteer information underline how much these events depend on a network of supporters, not just ticket income.

Pink vegan doughnuts offer a cheerful way to help

The fundraiser is deliberately easy to understand: buy a pink, vegan doughnut filled with strawberry and decorated with a rainbow heart. Orders are scheduled for delivery on 11 October, marking World Coming Out Day.

It's a smart fit for the cause. The doughnuts are colourful, shareable and instantly recognisable, so they work both as a small donation and as a visible show of support. A sweet treat won't solve every festival budget problem, of course, but it gives supporters a simple way to take part after the event has ended.

Music, volunteers and the festival village build the bigger picture

Love Out Loud's website points to a festival structure that extends beyond headline acts. Its line-up, volunteer programme and Love Out Loud Village suggest a mix of entertainment, community activity and practical involvement, while the partners page shows the importance of backing from local organisations.

That wider model matters for a young LGBTQIA+ event. People may come for the DJs or performers, but they often remember the atmosphere, the friendly volunteers and the feeling that a town has made room for them. Those softer details can be just as important when organisers are trying to grow attendance in a second year.

A second edition is already on the horizon

Despite the deficit, Sam Vos says Love Out Loud will return. New funding applications have been submitted, and further discussions with the municipality of Turnhout are planned.

Vos believes the Kempen region is ready for its own Pride event, pointing to positive responses from visitors, DJs and festival workers. The first edition may have missed its numerical target, but it appears to have achieved something harder to measure: proof that there is an audience and a community willing to show up.

For supporters, that makes the doughnut campaign more than a novelty. It’s a small, tasty vote of confidence in what the festival could become.

A pink doughnut can’t fund a whole Pride, but it can help keep the conversation moving.

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