Bright colors, loud cheers, bubbles, sunshine and overwhelming love filled the streets of downtown Bellingham on Sunday, July 7, as the Pride parade and festival rounded out Bellingham’s Pride celebrations.
This year’s Pride festivities included a weekend of events and activities geared toward people of all ages and walks of life.
Events began with a Pride family picnic hosted by Boundary Bay in the outdoor garden on Saturday, followed by an all-ages Pride dance party at the Depot Market Square Building. The celebration continued Sunday with the parade from Waypoint Park through downtown and ended with a festival at the depot market.
The parade consisted of adorned floats, energetic parade participants and lots of rainbow decorations. Downtown streets were lined with crowds of cheering spectators.
This year’s title sponsor was Rumors Cabaret. Other local business and organization supporters included Edward Jones, the City of Bellingham, PeaceHealth, Mount Baker Theatre, Fiamma Pizza, Unity Care NW, Boundary Bay Brewery, Northwest Yarns and Mercantile, Puget Sound Energy and John L. Scott Real Estate.
Sunday’s festival was packed with vendors, community resource groups and other supporters who helped to fill the Depot Market Square. The main stage showcased drag performances, speakers and more.
Among the performances, guest speaker Dwayne Wynne opened by asking who considered themselves to be an activist, to which a small amount of the crowd responded with raised hands. He focused on the reality of small changes having a large ripple in communities, and how activism can be done in small, meaningful ways.
Wynne shared his personal experience growing up as one of the few openly gay men in Lynden, and the impact it has had since — including the introduction of a Gay/Straight Alliance at his former high school. The speech was crafted with love, honesty, strength and acceptance. He ended by asking the same question he started with; this time the crowd responded with roaring cheers acknowledging their activism.
— Story and photos by Peyton Perdue