Rainbow colors beaming from the Duke Energy Center in Charlotte's uptown lit up the sky Saturday night, marking the end of a festival celebrating the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The event shut down several blocks of South Tryon Street as thousands flocked to the Pride Festival, put on by Pride Charlotte, a group that works to empower the area's LGBT community.

The festival is the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte's largest fundraiser. It's the culmination of Pride Week, which included an interfaith worship service, an art exhibit and film screening.

Thousands of people - a record number - attended Saturday's festival, organizers said.

At the Wells Fargo Plaza, drag queens lip-synced to pop music for a cheering crowd. One in a hot pink wig and matching knee-high boots danced to Katy Perry's "California Girls."

The festival has been held uptown in Marshall Park or Gateway Village, but Saturday's event was the first to be held in such a prominent area, a move organizers said was made to promote acceptance.

"We are just as valid a community group as any other," said Pride Charlotte spokesman Matt Comer.

Pride Charlotte began hosting festivals in 2006, but there have been gay pride events in Charlotte since the 1970s, Comer said.

Pointing to the legalization of gay marriage in New York and the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Comer said the LGBT community is making progress.

"I think we're making progress in Charlotte, too," he said.

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx addressed the crowd Saturday afternoon.

Couples held hands as they listened to bands perform.

Meanwhile, several people holding Bibles and wearing shirts that said "Repent or Perish" stood at intersections and shouted scripture to those passing by.

A few festivalgoers stopped to argue with them, but most walked by as the preachers' shouts were drowned out by music.

Several churches came to hand out information about their places of worship.

"We're open and receptive," John Houghton said of his church, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte.

He shook off the protestors. "They're expected at every festival in any city," Houghton said.

Capt. Gregory Sheets of the Air Force Reserve urged people to sign petitions asking the government to provide benefits to troops' same-sex partners.

Although he will soon be allowed to serve in the Air Force as a gay man, he says his husband can't receive spousal benefits from the military.

"We're allowing gays to be in the military," he said. "Why can't they have the benefits?"

Johnson & Wales University student Jessica Owen wore a shirt that said "I'm awesome."

"I'm proud of who I am and the lifestyle I live," she said. "Events like this help show there are so many other people out there who are just as proud as you."