Pride Month, Out and About
I was pleasantly pleased to notice the proliferation of LGBTQIA+ Pride events in small towns this year, both here in upstate NY and around the country!
In 2005, the East Central Minnesota Men’s Circle marked their fifth anniversary by hosting the nation’s first recorded Pride event not held in a metropolitan area in Pine City, MN.
Since then, more and more, people are coming together at rural Pride events to celebrate the resilience, inclusivity, honesty and joy that the LGBTQIA+ community emulates – as members of the family or as friends, family and neighbors, who show support by being there.
Don Quaintance and a small group of friends founded the East Central Minnesota Men’s Circle as a social and support group for gay, bisexual and questioning individuals who identify as men in East Central Minnesota. It was born in the year 2000, same as Easton Mountain.
“Small-town pride events are the ones that create the change. It’s easy to blend in with 500,000 of your friends at the Twin Cities pride festival and another to be one of 500 in Pine City. That takes a good deal of courage.”
Lower Adirondack Pride is truly a force, if I do say so myself. Founded in 2023, the organization is a unifying voice for LGBTQIA+ representation in this region of upstate New York. Per their website: Lower Adirondack Pride serves Warren, Washington (ours), and Northern Saratoga Counties by “producing events, championing advocacy, building community, and offering essential programs.”
It seemed like they were hosting or supporting Pride events every other day the entire month of June! Through their organizing and partnership, Pride events were held across the counties all month. Queer individuals, businesses, and organizers had the opportunity to connect, and smaller Pride groups in the area had a larger platform through which to get the word out.
Several of us from Easton Mountain attend these events last month:
Lower Adirondack Pride Festival (Glens Falls)
Battenkill Valley Pride Festival (Cambridge)
LAP’s Pride Cruise (Lake George)
Lower Adirondack Pride Festival featured talented musical acts, who shined despite the torrential downpour, and Glens Falls City Park was filled with booths: advocacy groups, spiritual groups, political groups, local businesses and all sorts of vendors. The event was attended by several hundred people and the crowd spanned a range of ages and identities. Rainbows everywhere!
Battenkill Valley Pride Festival, hosted by Battenkill Valley Pride in partnership with Lower Adirondack Pride, was charming in its smaller size and layout. Not to mention, there were goats. (One of the booths was selling goat milk soap and such.) The location, Pompanuck Farm, is a small farm / cafe-bakery / venue that struck us all as enchanting. The Round House (the on site cafe-bakery) was selling giant chocolate chip cookies (fab) and slices of the sourdough pizza for which they’re locally famous. Our local library was in attendance, as were a number of vendors, local businesses and craftspeople.
The Pride Cruise was a blast. Aboard the Horicon (our boat), we had a table set up to meet and greet those in attendance and spread the word about Easton Mountain. The weather was perfect, the DJ was bumpin’ hits and our group had a great time while meeting a whole lot of new people who live in the area but were previously unaware of EM’s existence! Nearing the end of the voyage, we pulled a name for the free raffle. We’ll be welcoming the winner to his free retreat later this year.
The spirit of Pride lives in our joy and our advocacy year-round.
Happy Pride ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Written by Cam, no AI
