Poulsbo Pride in the Park took place on Sept. 14 along the waterfront of downtown Poulsbo. It buzzed with energy from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., through both the rain and sun. The event included music, food, and dozens of booths representing organizations and people from all over Kitsap County. This was the second year that this pride event was put on, but the first year it was held on the Poulsbo waterfront. The organization moved the event down to the Poulsbo waterfront, in order to increase the visibility of the event.
Poulsbo Pride was founded by Heather McLain, the organization’s current president, and Emory Talon.
“Poulsbo Pride is about the inclusion of all the people of Poulsbo, all of our LGBTQIA2S+ community, and our allies and our families,” McLain said.
Poulsbo Pride puts on many different events beyond their pride in the park event. Last year, they fed over 150 community members at their annual Friendsgiving, and every December they host a gift drive for children in the area. They have also donated around 50 boxes of food since their founding to the unhoused population in Kitsap County.
“Our love in our community and the support far outweigh any of the negativity that we’ve seen,” McLain said.
According to Kevin Dwyer from The Island Wanderer, “This is the second year in a row that the City of Poulsbo has installed flags celebrating Pride Month. Last year’s flags were much smaller and fastened to plastic stakes.”
However, the installation of the pride flags caused uproar with some community members and resulted in several of the flags being slashed.
“There were grainy photos of a young man late at night, […] with a knife on the end of a stick slashing the pride banners that the city of Poulsbo put up,” Treasurer of the Board Michael Matz said.
Undeterred by the act of vandalism, the community came together to re-sew the banners. The stitches were left visible, and a hole was left in between the pieces of the banner as a reminder of the setback they did not let stop them.
“That person generated so much outpouring of support,” Matz said. “We earned pretty much all the money that we’re using to put this on from that incident.”
The slashed and re-sewn banner incurred massive support from the community, quickly becoming the symbol of Poulsbo Pride and could be found hanging all over the park. The theme of the event was “sew proud,” a pun based on the banner.
“I really can’t thank him enough, because that generated more money that we could have done on our own,” Matz said.
Using that money, the gathering was able to have many activities around Poulsbo Pride in the Park, including some that were catered to young people, such as a section of the event specifically meant for children and teens.
“We are especially here to show the youth and the kids in our community that there are people that will support you and accept you for who you are, no matter what you look like, how you present, or who you choose to love,” McLain said.
Despite the initial backlash the event generated, it turned out to be a roaring success. Bright colors, music, and laughter could be heard and seen from blocks up the street as the citizens of Poulsbo and Kitsap County celebrated.
“We hope that people in this community see this is the direction that we need to go,” McLain said. “It’s more important than ever to show that we have love and acceptance and that we’re all just humans.”
