PARKING UPDATE FOR 6/16/2018

We have a parking lot reserved for attendees at *Broad and Garfield* at the Broad Street Presbyterian Church. Follow parking signs to the lot where volunteers will direct you to your parking spot. There is limited street parking in the area surrounding the park, so we recommend that folks park in the parking lot designated for Community Pride. This lot will most likely fill up, so please be respectful to folks living in the neighborhood if you do park on the street.

Folks who need to be closer to the festival for it to be accessible to them may park in the lot of the Bethany Presbyterian Church indicated in blue on the map below.

PLEASE NOTE: There is NO parking for Community Pride at the King Arts Complex.

Furry Friends Welcome

Pets are welcome at Community Pride and there will be a few water bowls for them throughout the park. Please keep your pets leashed and pay close attention to them so that they are not disturbing any attendees. If your pet puts others in danger, please be aware that you may be asked to take your pet away from the park. Hoping for a safe day for our puppy friends, too!

SECURITY UPDATE!!!

Hey y’all, we want to apologize for our prior decision to hire HSI for security at the Community Pride Festival. Earlier today, we found out that Highland Security & Investigations, the Black trans-run security firm that we had intended to hire for the Community Pride Festival on Saturday, has collaborated with ICE and utilizes current and former police officers. We don’t want to make attendees feel unsafe with their presence, nor do we personally want to support a group who works with police or has been contracted by ICE because that puts us and our communities in danger. We’re not here to uphold oppressive bullshit, so we have made the decision to not hire HSI in order to hold true to our commitment that we would not invite police officers or agents of state violence to Community Pride. We hadn’t properly vetted the security firm because we mistakenly assumed that a Black trans-led security firm wouldn’t be so intimately involved in state-sanctioned violence.

Instead, we are putting together a community-based safety team to keep us safe at the festival. We have found experienced people who are able to train folks in self-defense and de-escalation. We’ve already started to gather a safety team and are now looking for more volunteers who can be on the team during the festival this Saturday. We will compensate people on the safety team with the funds that were originally reserved for festival security. If you are interested and able to be on this team, please DM us with your phone number to be added to a Signal chat.

We apologize for our misstep, and we wanna thank everybody who brought HSI’s involvement with the police and ICE to our attention, especially those who did so respectfully. We take y’all’s concerns very seriously, and will honor the voices of our communities. With that said, we aren’t going to tolerate hateful speech as part of anyone’s concerns, like the transphobic and homophobic speech directed towards one of our core members on an earlier post.

We’re trying our best to organize a safe space for QTIPOC with Community Pride. We take responsibility for our actions and are working quickly to resolve these issues so that everyone can feel safe at Community Pride.

Vendors announced!

ankofa Arts – SANKOFA ARTS bridges the gap between ancestral excellence and present day ART. Let our adornments be the first to welcome you BACK HOME.

Flavva Media – Fully supports all the independent artists and creatives! Now you can experience the Flavva for yourself! Stop by our booth to create your own t-shirts!! & Yes! Right On The Spots 
See what all the Flavva is about! & Get an exclusive look and behind the scenes of the highly anticipated Three And A Half Gays​ Podcast !! #FLAVVAINYAEARR

Planet Abstract Black (picture 2) – Out-of-this-world magical queer POC shirts, stickers, prints, and sooo much more

Galore Girl (Rrari Galore) (picture 3) – Black trans woman selling her brand of lips glosses, hair bonnets, T-shirts, and lashes to help fund her transition!

ART by AQUA – “A magical black girl obsessed with acrylics. Adventurous nature boy fascinated by Earth.”

Kamoh – One of our lovely performers selling their merch!

Lunam Press – Independently printed and designed shirts that benefit local and national causes such as OSU’s Trans*mission and TGI Justice Project (TGIJP)!

Abundance of Love Creations – Abundance Of Love Creations is a company that aims to heal energies through crystal and stone creations. Our creations are conduits for healing that allow positive and healing energy to flow into the body as negative energy flows out. The pieces we make are not only are fashionable but beneficial to everyday life!