Sonoma county pride
A participant in the 2022 Pride festival (Sloane Crocker, The Puma Prensa)
By Sloane Crocker, staff writer
Imagine an enormous crowd, with people seemingly adorned in every color of the rainbow, cheering and smiling as a parade rolls through. And from these smiles alone, it is clear that every person there is wholeheartedly accepting, loving, and judgment-free. Does this sound familiar? You may be thinking of the Sonoma County Pride festival, a celebration which will soon unfold upon the very streets of downtown Santa Rosa for the 38th year running.
The festival, which takes place June 3, is a day of activities, food, music, and a parade, all in the name of promoting and supporting the county’s LGBTQ+ community. This year’s festival centers around the theme of “community.” It will begin at 11 a.m., running until 12 a.m. the next morning. And though the entertainment lineup hasn’t yet been released, it is sure to be incredible, with such legends as RuPaul Drag Race star Miss Rock M Sakura and #1 Billboard jazz and pop singer Spencer Day having graced the stage during last year’s celebrations. Food vendors as well as shops offering a diverse combination of clothing and art will also be present, not to mention the many nonprofit organizations who will set up booths at the festival to share their messages. Yet a highlight of the festival is undeniably the main parade, in which participants go all out with floats, banners, you-name-it to celebrate the diversity and unity of the LGBTQ+ community and allies.
Grace Villafuerte, Vice President of Sonoma County Pride, says people can expect “a community feel” as well the “feeling of relief and comfort” of letting down the guard that she and many others have to secure in place on a day to day basis. Villafuerte explains that although fellow attendees of the festival may be complete strangers, there is a shared feeling of “intimacy and connection” as side by side they celebrate both each other and themselves.
Yet the festival didn’t always look like it does now. When Magi Fedorka drafted the first Sonoma County Pride resolution in 1987, it was promptly ignored by two supervisors whom she met with. And even when it was put onto Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors agenda, it was repeatedly voted against for years on end. Fedorka recounts that she was “stunned” by the fact that “even people who [she] thought were environmentalists or progressive” would tell her to call it LGBT history rather than Pride, something more akin to Women’s History Month or Black History Month. Though she knew that the name Pride means “being proud to be a member of a community and being proud to be here on the planet,” she says that so many others didn't understand that the LGBTQ+ community was “shamed by society and culture to not be ourselves, to hide ourselves, to not live openly.” Struggles were plenty along the journey of bringing Pride to Sonoma County, but despite it all, Fedorka never lost her vision, continuing to organize unofficial parades and picnics until Sonoma County Pride was officially recognized in 1992. Since then, the Pride celebration has grown so much that Fedorka says her younger self “would be stunned by how huge it has grown and how the community turns out.”
So what are some of the draws of the festival that make it so popular? Chelsea Kurnick, Chair of Positive Images Board, an LGBTQ+ support focused organization that has attended the Pride festival every year since it began, says she loves to see “young people’s excitement when they get to see the sheer number of people together who are a part of the community or allies to the community, cheering and being joyful together.” She feels it is especially beautiful to watch these young people experience their first Pride festival, to experience such acceptance and unity. Villafuerte confirms the life-changing quality of attending the festival for the first time, as she still remembers the relief of going to her first Sonoma County Pride. She says that “there are steps to feeling comfortable being gay” and knows that attending the Sonoma County Pride festival for the first time was “definitely a big step” in her journey.
Should you be interested in attending the festival, Villafuerte encourages you to remember a bottle to fill with water, as the festival has a water station, and the weather is usually very hot throughout the festivities. Beyond that, she recommends being creative and fun with your outfit, as the festival is “a really great day to express yourself and enjoy seeing other people express themselves.” Kurnick adds that even if you aren’t a part of the LGBTQ+ community, it’s a great time to show love and support, as especially in current times it’s important to show up for the community. And most of all, remember to be open minded, as in the words of Fedorka: “You will not find a more supportive environment than Pride. Everyone is accepting of everybody.”