by Dot Cannon
Rainbows festooned Pasadena’s Memorial Park on Saturday. People danced, sang, created art, played bingo, and showcased their creativity and resources.
Most of all, they reached out to one another, as San Gabriel Valley Pride’s 2014 Pride Festival, themed “Reflections of Pride”, marked the forty-fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. According to San Gabriel Valley Pride’s website, many people consider the June 1969 riots to be the beginning of the modern LGBT civil-rights movement.
San Gabriel Valley Pride’s 2014 Pride Festival combined a free Saturday event with an everyone-welcome information fair–and the result was a family-friendly party.
“You better dance,” exhorted one performer from the Levitt Pavilion Stage, just after the festivities started at 11.
Responding to both the directive and the uptempo dance music, a woman in the audience called back, “How can we not?”
Rows of exhibit tables beckoned visitors. Faith-based communities, including Altadena Community Church and All Saints Church, invited new members to their congregations.
Among the exhibitors was National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP), who offered visitors a look at the history-making contributions of LGBT scientists.
Community organizations offered information on their services.
Talented artists exhibited their work.
Auto enthusiasts brought their “babies” for the community to admire.
And for anyone seeking a new family member, the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA offered a number of potential candidates.
San Gabriel Valley Pride President Aaron Saenz, pictured above at right, said he and three SGV Pride colleagues revived Pride Festivals in Pasadena after a 1999 scheduling mix-up had seemed to put an end to them.
“Catalyst started in 1993,” Aaron explained. “They did their event in the City Hall (rotunda area). Then, in 1999, the city started doing construction, and so they made them move the event.”
That move proved disastrous, as attendees showed up, on the advertised week, to find nothing. “When the exhibitors and everybody showed up the next week, nobody came,” Aaron said. “Since (Catalyst was) incorporated, the boardmembers had to spend their own money to give back to the vendors, so they said, ‘That’s it, I’m done, I’m not doing it (again).”
By chance, though, after moving to California in 2000, Aaron found the 1999 Pride flyer and called the number. Organizers told him, “We stopped last year, we gave up.”
“I said, no, no, we need something,” Aaron said. Gathering three other board members, he organized a 2001 Pride festival–set for September 14th.
“Then 9/11 happened,” Aaron continued, adding that board members wondered if they needed to cancel the festival. But after the tragedy, Pasadena was ready for an event that brought the community together.
“I said we should still do it, we should still do a picnic in the park. And it worked…and then every year, it’s been growing and growing and growing.”
That growth was evident on Saturday, as the seven-hour event drew numerous attendees, gay and straight, to celebrate Pasadena’s diversity.
Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard took the stage to welcome the guests and express his pride in Pasadena’s work on behalf of the LGBT community. New resources include the Pasadena Pride Center, which opened last year in Old Town.
Big Draw L.A., back for its third year with SGV Pride, continued to be a popular event. Guests created squares for an “Equality Quilt”, with messages of love and support. Artist Heather Hilliard-Bonds, onsite from the Armory Center of the Artsto coordinate the project, talked about the various media they were using.
“What we’re doing right now is printmaking,” she said. “We have some painting, some watercolor, some created with marker…even though we’re all doing the same project, everyone’s image and view of equality comes out different, and they’re working together as families, as friends, it’s just really nice.”
As eclectic as the styles and messages in the quilt was the lineup at the Authors’ Forum. From noon till the Festival ended at six that evening, authors read aloud from their recent work. Their offerings included a historical love story, a travelogue, mystery stories and a wickedly funny satire.
Perhaps one of the most fun impromptu moments occurred when Roberta Degnore, the first author to read, received some unexpected news. Her book, Invisible Soft Return, had already garnered a Lambda Award nomination, but–
“Are you kidding me? A Rainbow Award? Oh, my God. Wow,” Roberta said, responding to the unexpected news that Invisible Soft Return was among the finalists.
In the adults-only area, Drag Queen Bingo, hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, provided a lot of laughter and festivity. “These are my sensible shoes,” commented Sister Tootie, at one point, showing off calf-high lace-up black boots.
As the afternoon wound down, attendees gravitated towards the Levitz Pavilion, where they could sit in the shade and enjoy the music. Singer Deanna Dee received a standing ovation after a set that included Streisand, Les Miserables and Irene Cara numbers–and held her audience spellbound. Following her, Chicago tribute band South Pasadena Transit Authority played a selection of 1970s horn-band favorites–concluding with, appropriately, “Saturday in the Park”.
Aaron echoed the sentiments of the Chicago classic-rock lyric as the festivities wound down. “This has been our best event ever,” he said. “Every time I looked out,…people were having fun and laughing, and that’s what Pride is to me. It’s about learning about yourself, and about your community.”