WACO, Texas — Eastside Market Co-Founder Eric Linares says their vision has always been to provide a space for creative minds to flourish. "Eastside market has always been a kind of a creative community space. But it's always completely been open to every you know, every part of the community," Linares said. "We want to showcase the diversity of cultures and communities and there's all kinds of people that make up what we are and what Waco is."
The Eastside Market in Waco hosted the second annual Paws N' Pride event on Sunday.
The Central Texas Humane Society's Community Outreach Manager Mike Gray says while his organization's mission is helping dogs, it's important to help people with these kind of events too.
"Doing events like this out in the community is one of the most important things we do," Gray said. "We're here for animals. We're here for people dogs help people. So it's very, very important."
As a co-founder of the eastside market, Linares says it's their goal to represent the totality of the Waco community. They make sure everyone feels seen and heard
"It's not just today, it's every day or twice a month and we do it. We want to showcase that this is an open, inclusive, supporting space for all kinds of creatives, all kinds of artists, all kinds of people in the Waco community," Linares said.
"The main goal is having an open space for multiple people, all different types of people," fellow co-founder Andreas Ziloumas said.
As the Waco community continues to show that they're at the forefront of inclusion and acceptance.
"By us continuing to support one another and invite all different types of people instead of focused on the negative that's happening. We hope that overpowers the negativity at some point," Ziloumas said. "I think there's definitely something about Waco that has people like wanting that interaction, that one on one and getting to know people and getting to know cultures."