This is the second year members of the Church of the Palms, United Church of Christ in Sun City, whose message is to embrace unconditional love, justice and extravagant welcome, took its mission to Heritage Square Park to participate in the 2025 Rainbow Festival.

The Rainbow Festival has been in existence since 2002, and the event and street fair each year draws more than 25,000 friends, families and allies and hundreds of exhibitors and vendors that includes everything from supportive churches to social justice groups and private companies to talk about their validation of the LBGTQ+ community.

“We live in a challenging political environment and more than ever we need to show our support for our LGBTQ+ community,” said Paster Paul Whitlock. “It is important that we use our collective voices as a church to show our love and support for all in our community.”

The church has a supportive LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ congregation that through its ministry demonstrates an unrelenting support for members of its community.

Again this year, the church’s LGBTQ+ Ministry Team, led by group organizer Georgia Feiste, spearheaded the two-day event. This year’s booth included several new faces and those volunteers talked about the Church of the Palms and its ministry. The ministry is part of the church’s Social Justice Leadership Team and its task is to celebrate the diversity of all of God’s creations.

“We take our mission very seriously,” Feiste said. “I was so pleased this year because more churches were represented at the Rainbow Festival and it demonstrates that as Christians we choose to live by our actions and embody God’s love of all.”

Several church members, in addition to Feiste and Annie Macomber, manned the booth.

Located at 14808 N. Boswell Blvd., The Church of the Palms holds services 10 a.m. Sundays.