NW PA Pride Looks Back at 2019

from NW PA Pride Alliance

Thanks to our donors and community partners, 2019 was a great year for the NWPA Pride Alliance! This year's Pride events were special because 2019 was the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which were the start of modern Pride events.

Pride Fest held on June 29 again set an all-time record for attendance. We estimate over 2,500 people attended, making it the largest Pride event in local history. We were honored that Erie City Major Joe Schember walked with his staff in the Pride Parade again, and also spoke at Pride Fest. In addition, the City of Erie painted a rainbow crosswalk between City Hall and Perry Square again with an even more inclusive Pride design than last year. Commissioners of the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ+ Affairs read a proclamation from Governor Wolf that was presented at Pride. We were also very pleased to have a great time with everyone who came to the 27th annual Pride Picnic in August.

NW PA Pride sponsored the Miss Erie Pageant and the Friday night diva shows at The Zone Dance Club. NW PA Pride also sponsored Drag Bingo at the Erie Art Museum and Dramashop's production of Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake.)

We also continued to focus on increasing the visibility of NWPA Pride, building connections to community partners and promoting issues important to the LGBTQIA community. We marched in the Edinboro University Homecoming Parade with Identity, Edinboro University's LGBTQIA student organization. We had a float in Millcreek's annual Fourth of July Parade. We also continued our partnership with the Erie Seawolves for Pride Night at the Erie Seawolves. We donated gift baskets for the Pink Party Breast Cancer Awareness Weekend at the Zone, and hosted the fifth annual Pride Day at Waldameer Park and Water World.

We are already hard at work planning for 2020 with the goal of building on the growth we enjoyed in 2019, and we look forward to the continued support of our donors and our community partners. We thank you again for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in 2020 at Pride Night at the Erie Otters on January 25, Pridefest on June 27, and the Pride Picnic on August 8, as well as other events to be announced soon.