The man who brought the Names Project AIDS memorial quilt to Alaska will be the grand marshal of this year's gay pride parade in Anchorage.

Doug Frank has been a volunteer and leader in Alaska's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community for three decades. He brought the AIDS quilt to Anchorage in 1989, and also arranged for it to be displayed in Juneau and Fairbanks, as well as other U.S. and international cities.

The AIDS memorial quilt has more than 40,000 panels recognizing the more than 80,000 Americans who have died from HIV/AIDS.

This year's Celebrate Diversity Parade begins at 11 a.m. Saturday on the Delaney Park Strip in downtown Anchorage. The city's Pride Festival follows Saturday afternoon on the park strip.