West Hartford expands Pride fest

This year’s celebration — featuring more vendors, live music and drag queens — mixes advocacy and fun

Having outgrown its previous location, the West Hartford Pride Celebration is set to take place in the Town Hall municipal lot on Saturday with about 120 vendors and organizations — 50 more than in previous years — as well as several food trucks and shade tents.

Event organizers Johanna Schubert and Barry Walters said the larger space will make the event more comfortable on what typically has been a warm, sunny day.

“This year we have three large comfort tents,” Schubert said. “There will be a place for people to sit and eat, or sit with their kids. One of them is specifically a children’s tent. There will be place for water and for people just to take time out of the sun.”

The day will start with a rally on the steps of Town Hall featuring several speakers and keynote speaker Michele Rayner-goolsby, the first openly gay woman of color elected to the Florida legislature in 2020.

“She has been busy standing her ground in a way that is really making a mark on Florida, and making sure that Florida youth and members of the LGBTQ community are protected legislatively. She’ll be speaking about the view from Florida, the national view, and what it means to be from a state like that,” Schubert said.

While Connecticut is relatively affirming to the LGBTQ community, there is still work to be done, here and elsewhere, co-organizer Barry Walters said.

“We felt like we needed a different perspective,” he said. “We wanted someone to tell us that things aren’t so rosy across the country, and sometimes we forget that. We hear the news reports, but having somebody with that lived experience come and tell us what it’s like was really important to us this year.”

Other speakers will include members of the West Hartford Pride committee, local politicians and some local students. Leading the group from the rally to the main festival will be the Hartford Proud Drill, Drum and Dance team.

“We’re going to have the kids, with their drums and cymbals, and amazing attitudes and energy, walking us from the front steps of town hall around the back to where the main festival is,” Schubert said.

Entertainment throughout the day will include musical acts J. Santino, Sister Funk,

Carrie Ashton, Brian Falduto, Zoe Lewis and Hartford Proud.

Drag queens, a staple of the event, will include Astra, Bleach, Crustal Starz, Destiny Nations Royal, Enigma Jones, Ethel Deluxe, Giri Spades, Harmony the Valkyrie, Jehloni, Kenya Mone Heart, Lady Tatiana, Mia E’zlay, Midnight, Moxie Angel, Natalia Fierce, Rozz Aura, Sapphire Bills, Xiomarie Labeija and Zella.

“They’re our palate cleansers,” Schubert said. “In between the billed acts, we’ll have some drag.”

While the day offers fun for everyone, there will also be opportunities for visitors to take part in advocacy efforts, or to find resources they might need. Schubert said the event is a celebration, but also has a message that is slightly different than previous years.

“A lot of how we framed it was about Pride being visible where there are a lot of political forces and other threads woven through current events, where we felt like we needed to step out in front and be proud and be loud,” she said. “That’s our theme again this year, but we’ve added ‘Stand Against Hate,’ because we’ve just seen a horrendous uptick in hate crimes, hate speech and hateful legislation being put forward. While we know that we have a lot to celebrate, we also know that it’s not perfect. So, we’re using this platform and this opportunity to continue to step forward and say, ‘you can’t erase us.’”

The event begins with the Pride Rally and Call to Action at 11 a.m. on the Town Hall auditorium steps, then continues at noon in the Town Hall municipal lot at 50 South Main St.

For more information, visit westhartfordpride.org.