Thousands gather at North Jersey Pride Festival

By Lilly Berman
Correspondent

It is important to organizers that young people are involved in the annual North Jersey Pride Festival in Maplewood.

“This pride is special because it’s family-friendly, it’s family-focused and so there’s a lot of families and parents and allies who show up for this,” North Jersey Pride’s Executive Director C.J. Prince said. “It’s important for everyone to see it, especially [the] youth.”

Children and adults from around Northern New Jersey gathered at the Maplewood Memorial Park on Sunday, June 11, for the annual Pride Festival. The event included live music and hundreds of vendors – ranging from religious organizations, local hospitals and supermarkets, to henna tattoo, jewelry, and clothing.

The event was organized by North Jersey Pride, an organization that holds programming and events throughout the year to support the area’s LGBTQ population – especially its youngest members. The North Jersey Pride Festival first took place in 2011, at which point it was a picnic with around 75 vendors.

The event has since grown exponentially with 150 vendors in attendance Sunday with a crowd that was estimated to be at least 10,000.

Artists such as singers and entertainers Parson James, Ali Caldwell, and STOUT took the stage and performed live music for the audience while television personality Scott Nevins hosted.

A unique “Kids Zone” appealed to the younger demographic with activities such as face painting and a bouncy house.

The Pride Festival occurred at an especially volatile time for the LGBTQ community as opposition groups fight to advance anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country.

These identities remain targets of such policies, while awareness in schools waver as books with LGBTQ themes are being banned from schools’ curricula.

Individuals at the Pride Festival feel a sense of urgency to combat the prejudice at events such as these. They stand against the ongoing prejudice by proudly celebrating their identities with other members of the community and its allies.

“It seems to be getting scarier and scarier by the month,” said one attendee, Justin. “Now more than ever, it’s so important to tell gay stories on screen, on stage … in our communities and in our schools, just to let these people on the other side know that we are not a threat. We are just trying to live our lives like them and what they’re doing is very, very wrong.”

Prince echoed similar feelings.

“It’s especially important this year because our community has been the target of so much anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies,” she said. “It’s so important to get together as a community and be together and show our solidarity.”

Despite the ever-present hatred towards the community, the sheer number of attendees at the festival is enough to inspire hope in Prince.

“It feels like we’re going backwards but I feel very hopeful when I see something like this and I see how many people are here coming out to support and I know that we’re gonna be OK,” she said. “We just have to stay loud and stay proud and keep fighting for our rights.”