2018 Pridefest Historic Success

from NW PA Pride Alliance

NW PA Pride Alliance held a very successful Pridefest on Saturday, June 30. It is estimated that at least 1,500 people attended the event, an all-time record for a local Pride event, and even larger than the record set last year.

The Pride Parade stepped off from the Zone Dance Club, 133 W 18th St. Parade units were NW PA Pride Alliance, Erie Insurance, Rebecca Mae's Drag Brunch, Eerie Roller Girls, General Electric Transportation GLBTA Alliance, Greater Erie Alliance for Equality (GEAE), Erie Sisters & Brothers Transgender Support Group, TransFamily of NWPA Transgender Support Group, Prism LGBTQ Youth Group, Erie County Student Coalition, Pennsylvania Equality Project, T-Mobile, Community United Church, Keystone Progress, Temple Anshe Hesed, LBT Women, Ron DiNicola for Congress, NextGen Pennsylvania, HealthCare4All PA, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, Erie County Democratic Party, Wolf/Fetterman for PA, American Civil Liberties Union of PA Northwest Chapter, Unitarian-Universalist Congregation of Erie, and Erie City School District. This makes for a total of 25 parade units (an all-time record) and there were at least 530 that were in the parade, shattering last year's record of 275. Mayor Joe Schember and several of his staff marched at the front of the parade, carrying ranbow flags, a first for Erie.

Speakers at Pridefest included Jason Landau Goodman, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Youth Congress; Tyler Titus, Director, School Board of the City of Erie; and City of Erie Mayor Joe Schember. Performers included Jill Jamison, Alysin Wonderland, Rebecca Mae, Misty Michaels Kall, and Snarebear, Music was performed by The Honest Mistakes, and also Matt Texter.

During the Mayor's speech, he announced that in addition to City Hall flying a rainbow flag during Pride, the fountain in Perry Square East being lit up rainbow at night during the week leading up to Pride, and the rainbow crosswalk between City Hall and Perry Square (labor donated by Sam Catania Painting, materials donated by Sherwin Williams in Harborcreek), there would be a Mayor's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council.

Info tables at Pridefest included Adagio Health, American Cancer Society, ACLU NW PA, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Community Health Net, Community United Church, Crime Victim Center of Erie County, Drenched Fur, Eerie Roller Girls, Erie County Human Relations Commission, Erie County Student Coalition, Erie Sisters & Brothers Transgender Support Group, Families United Network Inc., Greater Erie Alliance for Equality (GEAE), Green Party of Erie County PA, Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Lake Erie Counseling Associates, LBT Women, National Organization for Women, NWPA Chapter (NWPANOW), Pennsylvania Equality Project, Pennsylvania Youth Congress, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates, PNC Bank, Ron DiNicola for Congress, Safe Harbor Behavioral Health, SafeNet Center, T-Mobile, Temple Anshe Hesed, TransFamily of NWPA, Transgender Support Group, Whispering Lake Grove, and Whitethorn Digital LLC. Vendors were adultmart, Chalk It Up!, Clare's Country Creations, Elite Jewelry By Jasmine, Gardens of Eternity, Long Lasting Liquid Lips by Nicole, LuLaRoe by Anita, Rainbow Creations, Scentsy by Sharon, Sugar T's Smell Goods, Tamar Bostwick, and The Cookielady.