Hundreds attended LGBTQ+ celebration in Wellsville NY last week
From the Cattaraugus-Allegany Liberation Collective,
On Saturday, June 22nd, Island Park in Wellsville was filled with the sounds of joyous celebration as folks from many area communities rallied together around love, family, and PRIDE at the Rainbow Revolution Pride Festival. Approximately 400 attendees visited the county’s inaugural Pride event throughout the day, making a powerful statement that our rural LGBTQ+ community is here, is proud, and will not be silenced. Many of those in attendance mentioned that they were finally able to attend a Pride event because it was so close to home, and others who were raised in the area but now live elsewhere returned home to share in the celebration.
The festival also offered amazing resource vendors for everyone, with a special focus on our LGBTQ+ neighbors, as well as fun activities in the various park pavilions, renamed to honor LGBTQ+ figures who had particularly large impacts on history. Free arts and crafts activities for all ages were enjoyed in the Marsha P. Johnson Art Pavilion. Music rang across the park from the Ma Rainey Music Pavilion, and food vendors served attendees from within the Compton’s Cafeteria Pavilion. A variety of workshops were held on the lawn or in the Audre Lorde Workshop Pavilion, including yoga, circus arts, and a delightful storytime. The celebration also included an educational component in the self-directed Queer History Walk, which will now be displayed at other Pride events happening this summer in rural New York.
A dedicated team from the Cattaraugus-Allegany Liberation Collective (CALC) meticulously planned every aspect of the event, which was open to the public at no charge, and a group of volunteers donated their time and talents to make sure everything ran smoothly and was engaging for everyone. An incredible group of marshals and medics ensured everyone’s safety and created a secure and welcoming space for all. More than 30 vendors not only offered amazing creations for sale but also donated to LGBTQ+ affirming organizations in lieu of a vendor fee, showing their unwavering support for our local community. Some of those tabling at the event held discussions with those gathered at their vendor spot to discuss the ways in which the LGBTQ+ struggle for liberation is deeply connected to other struggles.
Barbara Smith, a renowned Black, lesbian, feminist who has worked tirelessly since the 1970’s as an activist, educator, and author, read a children’s story and then led an important community conversation about social issues and intersectionality to wrap up this historic event. The editor of Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology and author of The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom (among other titles), Ms. Smith has spent her entire life challenging oppressive power structures and supporting a broad and intersectional social justice agenda. She provided important education on modern LGBTQ+ history to a multi-generational audience at the event.
Small town Pride events like Rainbow Revolution help LGBTQ+ people feel less isolated and provide important spaces for them to be their authentic selves. In a time when there are increased threats to their community in the form of library book challenges and more than 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in legislatures across the country already this year, the Pride festival in Allegany County is an example of the value of such celebrations in small towns all across rural America.
Every small town needs a Rainbow Revolution!
