Canberra was the epicentre of acceptance as Australians voted to legalise same-sex marriage, and it reprised that role on Saturday as Braddon exploded with colour, dance and love.
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Organisers were expecting a crowd of more than 5000 people as the Yes!Fest street party took over Lonsdale Street, this year featuring 29 performers including vogue dancers, drag performers and DJs across three stages.
Signs carrying words including "Love has no gender" and "Trans lives matter" were among the messages displayed around the crowd by revelers as the event kicked off on Saturday afternoon, before stretching into the night.
Canberrans Georgia Collins and Rachel Wiltshire were attending the celebrations for the first time, and said the atmosphere of acceptance was crucial for the LGBTIQ+ community.
"It's so important," Ms Collins said.
"We're fully out of the closet now and it's great."
Canberra has built a reputation as Australia's most inclusive city since leading the nation in the successful push to legalise same-sex marriage, with 74 per cent in the ACT voting "yes" in the 2017 postal survey.
A day after the second anniversary of the survey result being revealed, Braddon's rainbow roundabout got even more colourful as it transformed into a stage for performers, who then invited the public to join them for a boogie in celebration.
Demonstrating Yes!Fest's growing profile, the performers who came from far and wide to take part included Sydney-based vogue dance group The House of Luna.
Moments before taking to the stage to open the celebrations, group member Karlee Misipeka was full of praise for the festival, predicting it would "go off".
Fellow performer Jackie Laso said events like Yes!Fest were important in continuing to drive a culture of acceptance.
"Australia's a very progressive country, but we were quite late in coming to [legalising same-sex marriage," she said.
"That always surprised me, but now we need to keep having things like [Yes!Fest] and celebrating."
Yes!Fest chair Patrick Connell said the event had expanded this year and in addition to the day stage at the rainbow roundabout, there were also night stages outside Lonsdale Street bars Assembly and Hopscotch.
He said the event was a reminder that "we're better together", and that it was important to create a safe environment where LBTIQ+ people could celebrate who they were and show that to wider community.
"Events like Yes!Fest bring people out in public and show the community that they're flourishing and living happy lives," he said.
"It's really important that there's a space in the capital city of Australia where people can just dance freely here on the [rainbow] roundabout and we can express our love for them."
He said it was important to recognise the second anniversary of the successful fight for marriage equality, but there was still more to strive for, especially around issues like the rights of transgender people.
Yes!Fest is part of Canberra's SpringOUT pride festival, which runs from November 2-24.
Events still to come during this year's festival include the sold-out Bushdance community fundraiser at Yarralumla Woolshed, and the Fruit Tingles dance event at Majura Community Hall in Dickson. Both will take place next Saturday.
