NEWS

Rochester Gay Pride Festival celebrates diversity

Participants revel in community spirit at downtown event

Staff reports news@seacoastonline.com
Bonnie Cote and her son Bradley dance to the music provided by DJ Jodi Duston as the fourth annual Rochester Gay Pride Festival Saturday afternoon. [Daryl Carlson/Fosters.com]

ROCHESTER — The Lilac City celebrated diversity Saturday during the annual Rochester Gay Pride Festival.

Hundreds gathered in the city’s downtown for an event organized by Rochester Main Street and the Rochester Museum of Fine Art. The event is held to showcase a welcoming acceptance of and support for the LGBTQ+ community, but this year organizers wanted to create more of a celebration.

Rochester Main Street Executive-at-Large Ray Amirault said it’s events like Saturday’s festival that really show the community spirit and Main Street’s mission is to keep it heading in the right direction.

Angela Mills, executive director of Rochester Main Street, said the organization has taken over planning of the event and that all associates are members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Mills said the organization wanted the event to be a festival instead of just a parade. As part of those efforts, the gathering spot was moved from Hanson Street, where it has been held in the past, to North Main Street and the nearby parking lot. Organizers added a beer garden, food and approximately 50 vendors. They also included face painters and balloon artists for kids, the Drag Queen Story Hour and a dance party.

Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas, New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress, opened the festival at noon with a welcome for attendees.

Rochester's poet laureate Katie O'Connor was on hand with her Poetry Wall, part of her Public Poetry Project. The full-size magnetic panels and Pride-themed magnets word tiles allowed attendees to compose their own poems on the spot. O'Connor took photos of the completed poems to post on Instagram using #rochesterpoetrywall.

The "Seacoast LGBT History: Even More Impact and Influence" exhibit at The Franklin Gallery was open for the festival. Presented by the Seacoast LGBT History Project, the exhibit is on display throughout August and includes items such as vintage guides, posters, DVDs, brochures, pins, photographs, awards, newspaper clippings and other artifacts that tell the story of the Seacoast LGBT community.

The exhibit included a special section on Charlie Howard, a gay man who grew up in Portsmouth and was murdered in a hate crime in Bangor, Maine, in 1984.