This year’s theme, “We Are Family,” was befitting, she said, because the event felt like a massive family reunion.įestivities began with groups gathering just northeast of downtown Santa Rosa for the 11 a.m. For the last couple years, they’ve missed out on that,” said Grace Villafuerte, vice president of Sonoma County Pride, which coordinated the Saturday event. “A lot of folks are telling me, this is the first Pride where they actually get to be out (as LGBTQ+), which is such a big deal. The celebration, mostly halted by the coronavirus pandemic, has been urgently missed in the North Bay, organizers, performers and attendees agreed. Those demonstrations were seen as a catalyst for the gay rights movement, though it built on earlier activism by the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S.
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The annual festival is part of Pride Month, commemorating the Stonewall Inn uprising, a series of demonstrations in 1969 that followed a police raid at the popular gay bar in New York City. It was among the largest gatherings the county has seen in recent years with the pandemic, and the first full, in-person Pride festival here since 2019.
The drizzle could not dampen the festivities nor did the handful of protesters on the periphery, a small reminder of heightening anti-gay and anti-transgender political momentum nationwide.
Later, they snacked on fried festival food and perused booths offering art, clothing and trinkets. Thousands of rainbow-clad Sonoma County locals and visitors descended Saturday morning on Santa Rosa, transforming Old Courthouse Square into a sea of pulsing sound and color.įamilies mingled with drag queens and cosplayers as they watched local businesses, organizations and public officials parade by on colorful floats or in coordinated dances.