IN-PERSON PRIDE
Weeklong celebration will return this July
The Twin Cities and beyond will be awash with rainbow colors and LGBTQ flags next month as Nowoco Pride Week returns on July 13 — the first in person festivities to be held since the inaugural Pride Festival three years ago.
“We are super excited for Pride Week 2022, as we added a few more events and with this being the first in person Pride Week since 2019, we are happy to be back better and stronger than ever,” said Nowoco Pride President Anthony Bovenzi. “We chose this year’s theme of ‘ Together We Rise’ for a way to unite after COVID-19, to unite and uplift the community.”
Pride Week 2020 and 2021 were both held virtually. The fourth annual Pride Week is jam packed with all kinds of activities beginning with the raising of the pride flag on July 13 in Leominster at 2 p.m., Fitchburg at 3 p.m., Lunenburg at 4 p.m., and Gardner City Hall will be lit up with rainbow lights at 7 p.m.
From 5 to 8 p.m. on July 14, a Paws up for Pride pet parade and mini festival will be held at the Fitchburg Dog Park and at 3 p.m. on July 15 a Drag Queen Storytime will be held at Strong Style Coffee in downtown Fitchburg. A Nowoco Pride Reception will follow from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fitchburg Art Museum.
The newly extended Pride Festival will be held from noon to 7 p.m. on July 16, at Riverfront Park in Fitchburg, and on July 17 there will be a “High Heel Dash” at River Styx Brewing in Fitchburg at 1 p.m. The final party, “Higher Love Pride Tea Dance” will also be held at River Styx, from 3 to 6 p.m., to close out the celebration in style.
“Our events this year are mixed with oldies but goodies and a few new to mix it up,” Bovenzi said.
The Worcester native is one of the founding Nowoco Pride board members, which also includes Secretary Robyn Mayo and Vice President Sally Powers, both of Lunenburg, Treasurer Jai Field, a Lunenburg native who now lives in Rockport, and member- at- large James Adkins from Rutland.
“I got involved because a couple of friends of mine wanted to have a pride in Fitchburg but
didn’t know about how to go about starting it,” Bovenzi recalled. “They asked if I would help since I worked on numerous pride committees for over 15 years.”
Nowoco Pride was officially formed at the end of 2018 with the mission “to recognize, promote, and unify the North Worcester County LGBTQ community, allies, and supporters,” and in July the following year the first Pride Festival was held.
“The community on the most part loved what we were doing but with doing Pride we did encounter a few hiccups with push back from those who didn’t agree with us,” Bovenzi said. “We at Nowoco Pride are ecstatic to invite everyone to celebrate Pride 2022 with us.”
He said they “always look forward to the big event,” the Pride Festival, which will feature entertainment, food trucks, vendors and a zip zone.
Bovenzi said the event, “will be emceed by the one and only drag legend of Boston, Mizery, fan favorite of the Fitchburg State University Drag Show.”
The nonprofit organization welcomes participation and volunteers from the community and recently established a new community fund to help them give back to the community.
Virtual information sessions are held on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, which will resume in October following the festival.
Nowoco Pride and Pride Week has many local sponsors and supporters including Bin There Dump That, Diva Entertainment Group, Epic Wellness, Ethos Dispensary, Fidelity Bank, Great Wolf Lodge, Hannaford, Legends Grille & Sports Bar, Lucky Dog Home Improvement, Making Opportunity Count, Pathways for Change, the Powers family, River Styx, Savvy’s Sea Glass and Strong Style Coffee.
Bovenzi said attendance the first year was around 300 people and that they are “expecting way more than that this year.”
“It is crucially important for us to provide these events so that local LGBTQIA+ people feel like they have a voice, that they are seen, and that they have away to come together as a community,” he said. “We also provide the events because we, the LGBTQIA+ community, are still in this day and age fighting to be equal and that is still very important work to do to push against bigots and hate.”
For more information email nowocopride@ gmail.com, visit www.nowocopride.org, and follow Nowoco Pride on Facebook and Instagram.