![]() “I enjoyed it, we’ve got live music and dancing and having a good time, everyone’s in good spirits,” Aiello said. Many of those with farmers market booths, including Brett Aiello who runs Reconnecting Roots Farm, were happy to see the celebration. Under the initial plan, the group would have had an 80-foot by 160-foot space to host the event. Initially, Pride was slated to be right next to the summer farmers market and share Legion Park. The farmers market instead took a neighboring parking lot. In one final twist, organizers got late notice they were given all of Legion Park. Security and insurance costs - which had not been asked of the group the year prior - also became barriers before the city backed off. In that meeting, the mayor asked if organizers would consider not having a drag performer read to children during the event.ĭrag story time performers backed out of Saturday’s Pride, citing threats, Gramore said. The barriers were many and stemmed from a conversation in late April with several city officials. We do this because there’s so much to fight back that sometimes you need the extravagance.” “And it doesn’t have to be extravagant all the time. They want to be represented right where they live,” said Gina Touché, a drag performer and the event’s MC. “There’s still so many people that live right in these small towns, artists yearning for representation and don’t want to have to travel all the way to Seattle to get it. Throughout the day, several hundred people filtered through Legion Park to enjoy music, dancing and performances. It was just beautiful seeing the people that came out for it.” “We did have families and youth here so not everybody got scared away by the other side, which was good. “A lot of people came out and it sounded like they were all having fun,” Gramore said. She was upbeat, but happy the long-planned event met expectations amid conflict with city officials and the threat of protests. One of the lead organizers, Gramore had performed during the event, a drawn-on black mustache fading. ARLINGTON - Caera Gramore was exhausted by the time Arlington’s Pride event concluded Saturday. ![]()
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