Second Smyrna Pride Festival encourages people to 'live where you're loved'

Jun. 19—A version of this story was updated to correct the spelling of Leah Bulow's name.

As June Pride Month celebrations take place around the country, the streets of downtown Smyrna will shut down for the city's second Pride Festival on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

The event is organized by the community organization, Smyrna is Fabulous.

At the festival there will be vendors, a DJ playing music, sponsors offering specials and ample food and drink. Since Smyrna is an open container city, festival-goers can purchase drinks from one spot and food from another for an afternoon of celebration and community.

The Pride Festival found its origins in 2021 when Mike Mitchell, executive director of Smyrna is Fabulous, Kirsi Noonan and Zack Smith decided to ask business owners in the Smyrna Market Village to fly the pride flag one day so they could bring people to hang out and celebrate.

"That initiative got the attention of quite a few people, and the support behind it was significant," Mitchell said. "Pretty much every business in the Smyrna Market Village flew the pride flag that day."

The initial celebration got the attention of Smyrna's Mayor Derek Norton, and he decided to show his support, Mitchell said. On June 6, Norton presented a proclamation to the Smyrna City Council in recognition of LGBTQ Pride Month for June 2022. The proclamation urged "residents to recognize the contributions made by members of the LGBTQ+ community and actively promote the principles of equality, liberty and justice," while denouncing "prejudice and unfair discrimination based on age, gender identity, gender expression, race, color, religion, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation or physical attributes as an affront to (our) fundamental principals."

"It's imperative that young people in our community, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression, feel valued, safe, empowered and supported by their peers and community leaders," Norton wrote in the proclamation.

Mayor Pro Tem Tim Gould said he and Norton are happy that Mitchell and Smyrna is Fabulous will be leading the celebration. They want everyone to feel welcome and cared for in the city of Smyrna.

"The city of Smyrna is such a wonderfully diverse community," Gould said. "We want to work hard to celebrate the diversity and to make sure folks know they're welcome, and they're a valued, important part of our community."

After the first pride celebration, people started asking Mitchell if it was possible to make the celebration bigger going forward and if there could even be monthly pride events. Mitchell said he and his team decided that, with the support of the community, they would form a planning committee and work on throwing a full pride celebration.

The committee Smyrna is Fabulous formed as a result. They hold one event a month at which members and allies can meet, interact and form a community.

Seeing the mayor proclaim June as Pride Month for Smyrna, which he did again in 2022, was important to Smyrna is Fabulous community relations person Leah Bulow. Cobb County had not always been welcoming to members of the LGBTQ+ community, she said, citing a 1993 anti-gay resolution passed in the county.

When Bulow and her wife first moved to Smyrna in 2011 with their children, she said she knew there were other families like hers in the area, but they weren't broadcasting it. They had to use private Facebook groups to connect with other LGBTQ+ families, she said. Smyrna is Fabulous offers a public group to connect a wide variety of community members.

"I feel like we've just been able to promote a really safe and out space for people that are in the (LGBTQ+) community or might have family members or allies," Bulow said. "I think it's been a really good thing. Just to help residents in our area feel more comfortable about who they are and being out in our community."

Mitchell said he's been able to see changes amongst allies, people who are not LGBTQ+ but show support for the community. Mitchell said he felt he fit in better with straight men until he got older.

"I lived in the city where my neighbors loved me and my friends loved me, but I didn't know if they loved Mike, the guy that played softball with them, or if they loved Mike, the genuine human being that he is," Mitchell said.

Now he knows his neighbors love him for the human being he is, he said. He can look out at his neighbor's house and see they're flying a pride flag. When he asked them why, they said Mitchell was a member of the community and they wanted to support them.

Creating a safe and supportive local community is the most important thing for Smyrna is Fabulous, which runs by the motto "live where you're loved."

Mitchell said it's important to localize pride into smaller communities. Pride Month began as a way to commemorate the Stonewall riots in New York City in June, 1969, when members of the LGBTQ+ community protested in response to a police raid of Stonewall Inn, a popular gay club at the time.

Mitchell said the pride movement might not have happened had these protests occurred in a less progressive city, but the club attracted gay people from all over, including small towns. It's important to have grass roots pride events in smaller communities because they feed into the big ones, he said.

"We want to have our own pride and show our own resiliency and our own beliefs," Mitchell said. "That's why the name of the organization is Smyrna is Fabulous. Not 'we are fabulous.' It's Smyrna is Fabulous, because we want the people of Smyrna to know that they can be just as proud here on June 25, as they can be [at the Atlanta Pride Parade]."

This year's Pride Festival has reached a point Mitchell never expected to see, with the streets closed off and entertainment planned all day. He said he is thankful for the work his planning committee has done to get to this point.

"I think I'm most excited about seeing the hard work of these six people come to this really, really beautiful culmination," Mitchell said.

Bulow said she wants every attendee to feel safe, whether they're gay or straight.

"I just want them to feel welcome and to be safe in their own skin here in Smyrna, Georgia," she said.

Mitchell added that he wants everyone to know hate is not allowed in Smyrna and not allowed at the pride festival. He wants attendees to leave knowing that Smyrna is Fabulous is committed to giving everyone a safe experience.Gould said they look forward to doing what they can to help celebrate the diversity of Smyrna year after year.

"I'm really, really, really excited about what June 25 has in store for us," Mitchell said. "And I'm even more excited about what June 26 has in store for us."

For the full list of vendors and sponsors, visit Smyrna is Fabulous' website or join the group Smyrna is Fabulous on Facebook and be part of the countdown to pride.