Logan Pride attendees, decked out in anything and everything rainbow, flocked to Willow Park on Saturday to enjoy food, music, conversation, and a message of inclusion.
Dorothy Wallis, the board president of Logan Pride, said they really didn’t do any vendor recruitment this year because businesses and organizations that had previously attended Pride all reached out about getting involved again. Tents were set up over tables covered with jewelry, paintings, church pamphlets, voter registration forms, and more.
“As long as it’s inclusive and supportive and people want to be here, they’re welcome to sign up,” she said. “And when we run out of spaces, we run out of spaces. We have about 90 vendors this year.”
This is a significant increase from the very first festival in 2017, which had fewer than 10 vendors.
Wallis also explained how the smaller Pride events in the state tend to be spread throughout the year so as not to compete with the larger Utah Pride events in June.
“So you can find a Pride event in Utah from May to September,” she said. “It’s to make sure that we’ve got representation everywhere.”
And she means everywhere – even church. Wallis pointed me in the direction of the tent belonging to Logan Pride’s biggest donor: St. John’s Episcopal Church, where I spoke to Rev. Jason Samuel, who was handing out pamphlets and stickers to attendees.
“They put it in writing even,” he said, referring to his church, “that all people, no matter who we are, no exceptions, are children of God, loved for exactly who we are, the way we are.”
He explained that his church has always been a little different, in the sense that they value inclusion.
“We have male priests, we have female priests, we have transgender priests, we have gay priests,” he said. “You know, I have a husband.”
Rev. Samuel mentioned the recent pride flag vandalisms in Logan and emphasized how important it is that members of the LGBTQ+ community have a safe space to be themselves in.
“We say explicitly we are not just for you, we’re with you, and we’re a part of you, and we are you,” he said.
Further down the row of tents, Neca Allgood with the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah called out to passersby asking if they would like to send a letter to their legislators addressing gun violence. She said she had been to many events sharing their message, but this event was especially relevant to their cause.
“Gun violence profoundly intersects with LGBTQ rights,” she explained. “There have been several shootings that specifically target LGBTQ spaces, and so it makes sense that this is an issue that matters a lot to this community.”
The voter registration booth was front and center, right across from the big stage. New arrivals could make a quick stop and check their voter registration before moving on to the festivities.
And while Logan Pride was a fun-filled affair with bright colors and loud music, there was a deeper message pasted on booths behind the glittering streamers or scrawled on denim vests.
The upcoming election seemed to pervade every conversation with festival-goers, and my talk with Allgood was no exception. She emphasized that we need to “encourage people to vote. And vote their whole ballot.”
