Staunton Pride to focus on health and wellness this year
STAUNTON — It's been two years since Staunton Pride has been held in person. Now, a large component of the festival is centered on health and wellness, Cole Troxell said.
According to Troxell, Staunton Pride received a grant from the Virginia Department of Health in order to provide a wellness hub at the festival.
"We're working with central Shenandoah Health District to create accessibility and health education around COVID-19 vaccinations. We will have a central Shenandoah Health District on site providing COVID-19 vaccinations boosters and for Monkeypox," Troxell said.
Staunton Pride will be held Oct. 23 from noon to 5 p.m. at the bandstand area of Gypsy Hill Park. The move to the park allows for more room to spread out for the festival.
The event will also include bandstand entertainment, performers, a beer garden, a vendor area, a warm room and health and youth activities, a release said.
Other events will be planned throughout October and will include businesses and organizations in Staunton. The full schedule of events, specifically about kick-off events Sat., Oct. 22, are available at stauntonpride.org.
Staunton Pride welcomes all LGBTQ+ owned and affirming businesses, artisans, nonprofits, organizations, and performers to participate in the Pride festivities, the release said. Those interested in participating should visit stauntonpride.org/get-involved for more details.
The festival was first organized in 2018 by Chris Wood of LGBT Tech, which works with the LGBT community and technology. Organization of the event grew to a city-wide effort led by LGBT Tech and Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro Citizen Action Network, and it drew thousands to downtown Staunton.
The festival’s goal is to celebrate and support all members of the community in order to increase acceptance and inclusivity in the Shenandoah Valley, its website said. All proceeds from the festival will be donated to the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center.
"We really want to focus on families and youth, which felt like it aligned with, you know, Pride also being family and youth oriented," Troxell said. "We wanted to create some accessibility around that conversation about getting your children vaccinated, boosted, etcetera. Especially as we step into sort of sick season. COVID is not over, but we also stepped into a season in which kids are more prone to get sick. I would say that that's the most standout difference in Pride this year. When we decided to have an in-person Pride, it felt really important as a part of the queer community to let folks know that we have taken this really seriously. We continue to take it seriously."
Pride's mission won't be deterred with the current political climate in Virginia — this is after Gov. Glenn Youngkin overturned the previous administration’s policy on the treatment of transgender students. The Republican governor campaigned on so-called “parental rights” and his administration cited that in releasing this new policy, saying the previous policies “disregarded the rights of parents.”
Troxell said they are doing everything they can to create a safe environment for Pride — that means upped security while working with Staunton Parks and Recreation and the Staunton Police Department.
This year's pride is especially important after not having the event in-person for two years due to COVID.
"I think specifically during the pandemic, everybody had to go inward," Troxell said. "You lost a lot of access to community. And when you're working with vulnerable populations in small areas like this and rural areas like this, we fail to recognize how important access to community is, even if it is small. So Pride feels ever important always all of the time to me, but specifically because I know that it's been a hard two and a half years and I want to create an environment where people get to come together in a way that we're used to congregating."
He hopes that the health and wellness aspect will be a big draw as well.
"So that's why this Pride in particular feels important. It almost feels like a welcoming home, like welcoming them back into shared space," Troxell said. "But then to also say we haven't forgotten about you and here are all of the things that we want you to witness. We want you to feel good in this space with these folks."
Other events throughout the month include Queer trivia, happy hour, Pride disco, Rocky Horror Picture Show, paint night and more.
The following will be performing at Pride:
Dragon Wagon
Rufus Scruf
Rachael St. Laurent
Sweet Pete
League of Elegance
Blaze
Violet Kiss Crumble
John Levengood
Amazon Rome
Food trucks include:
Brisket Taco Co.
Cheesesteak Scenarios
Ubon Thai
Sweet Baby Cheeses
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Laura Peters is the trending topics reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Or a good feature? You can reach reporter Laura Peters (she/her) at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura. Subscribe to The News Leader at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton Pride to focus on health and wellness this year
