CHICO — The parking lot of the Stonewall Alliance of Chico filled this Saturday as the nonprofit celebrated Pride Month with the Pride Pop-Up Fair and Festival.
Included at this years event was vendors, drag performances, and live music. In the past, the event was held in City Plaza but this year, Stonewall Alliance opted to keep things closer to home as they organization begins returning to in-person events.
Executive Director for Stonewall Alliance of Chico, Andrea Mox, said that after not holding an in-person festival last year, the nonprofit had been continuing to weigh the options.
“In March, we did our trans event and a small version of this. We had such a great turnout for that and at that point in time, it was like, ‘OK — it looks like we might be able to be safe. So, let’s make this happen,'” said Mox.
Once Stonewall Alliance began planning, she said the group realized their parking lot would be able to fit a large number of vendors as well as an area for performances.
“Everyone’s so excited in the community to be celebrating and having a good time. We have over 50 vendors here and there’s just so much good stuff going on.”
In addition to holding the fair and festival in a new location, Mox said that multiple vendors were new to the event. This included Butte College who had a booth for recruiting student support perspectives.
Other vendors at Saturday’s 50-plus vendor event included Woodstock Pizza, Caring Choices, Gnarly Deli food truck, Faith Lutheran Church, Chico First Baptist, Chico State University, and KZFR Community Radio.
Events and Volunteers Coordinator for Stonewall Alliance, Alyssa Larson, said that as COVID restrictions began to be lifted and vaccinations were being rolled out, the nonprofit looked to previous years to start planning.
“We started on the same track as we had last year, just learning from what went right and what went wrong,” Larson said. “We sort of realized, ‘Oh, this needs to be in person. Oh, that needs to be in person….’ and so it sort of bubbled up from under us. Then people and volunteers started flooding in and everyone was like, ‘Can we be there?’ All of a sudden, we have this.”
With the new location this year, Larson said that Stonewall Alliance will continue taking notes on what works and what didn’t.
“It’s all experimental — we’re all learning. We’ll try to take bits and pieces and people can expect it to continue growing and changing,” Larson said.
Live drag and music performances were also watched by a packed crowd throughout the day including music from Scout; Weak Daze; Radio Relapse; and Linda Stonestreet.
Drag performers included Madd Dogg 20/20; Lulu Licious; Klaudia Banks; Vincent Van Glowe; Chardonnay Risque; and Selena (Youth).
Board Chair for Stonewall Alliance, Conner Wenzel, said that being able to gather as a group after more than a year of separation has been a rewarding effort.
“It’s wonderful because the people that are tabling and the people that are attending — they all want to reconnect,” Wenzel said. “The pride event has always been big in Chico, but (people) are like, ‘Whoa, I didn’t know there was this many community members.'”
Wenzel, who also facilitates the teen group at Stonewall Alliance, said that for some in the program the event marks a special moment.
“Especially in our community, there’s a lot of sense of isolation,” Wenzel said. “This may be the first time they get to be near friends in a large queer space where they can express themselves however they want to — they may not have been able to do it for the last 15 months, or however long its been.”
After spending more than a year connecting virtually, for some teens, Saturday’s event also represented the first time meeting face to face.
“It’s been hard because the only connection has been virtual,” Wenzel said. “To be in person and realize that they do blend in and fit in and there are other people that look just like them — all these things just make it more comfortable to continue that process.”
For more information about future events from Stonewall Alliance of Chico visit https://ift.tt/3haLrHA
"crowd" - Google News
June 27, 2021 at 06:02PM
https://ift.tt/3hcawBV
Pride Fair and Festival draws big crowd - Chico Enterprise-Record
"crowd" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YpUyMI
https://ift.tt/2KQD83I
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Pride Fair and Festival draws big crowd - Chico Enterprise-Record"
Post a Comment