BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Lehigh Valley Pride was paused because of weather Sunday, putting on hold the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center’s largest celebration yet of the LGBTQ+ community.
Despite intermittent rain and the threat of severe weather — severe thunderstorm and flood watches remained in place for the length of the festival — hundreds turned out to the SteelStacks campus in South Bethlehem on Sunday afternoon.
At around 4 p.m., organizers paused the festival and directed attendees to seek shelter because of storms. As of 5:30, it had yet to resume.
This year’s Pride, the second edition the Bradbury-Sullivan Center has held at SteelStacks, is the first to expand into the parking lot along First Street, near the Bethlehem Visitor’s Center. As a result, organizers said, Sunday’s event was the largest Lehigh Valley Pride yet.
The lot provided a spacious new area for “the market,” housing a large portion of the 300-plus vendors, community groups and businesses manning tents.
“It allowed us to have a lot more vendors this year, more food trucks — just generally open it up to more community resources and small businesses,” Bradbury-Sullivan Senior Health Equity Programs Manager Chrystina Obleschuk said of the new space.
This year’s Pride kept some of last year’s innovations, like free admission, a sober dance party offering an 18+ dance club atmosphere without the alcohol, and multiple stages for live performances from drag queens, DJs, comedians and musicians.
“It's a celebration, and I adore the fact that we can come out and just be this big, huge mass of love and joy.”Sonny Lemmons, Center Valley
The festival also retained a focus on inclusivity, with sign language interpreters, a sensory-friendly space, areas for youth from a few weeks old to age 17, accessible seating, large-print Pride guides, and more.
Lehigh Valley Pride is a way to create an atmosphere of acceptance for a community that often feels pressure to hide part of themselves in everyday life, officials with the Bradbury-Sullivan center said.
“Our community needs a place where they can be themselves,” Obleschuk said. “Pride is one of the best places to do that, because you know that everyone around you is also celebrating their LGBTQ+ identity, and you know you don't have to worry about being who you are.”
'A celebration"
Many said that sense of welcome, and the freedom to let their guard down that comes with it, is what brings them to Pride events year after year.
“It's a celebration, and I adore the fact that we can come out and just be this big, huge mass of love and joy,” Center Valley resident Sonny Lemmons said. “I mean, not even the rain is keeping us down right now.”
“It is such a happy environment. I love seeing people being able to feel safe and happy and loved, and that's what keeps me coming back,” said Shannon Theobald, visiting from Union County, New Jersey.
Among the visitors Sunday was U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, who affirmed her continuing support for LGBTQ+ rights in her campaign against Republican opponent state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.
The festival, she said, gives the LGBTQ+ community a chance to feel accepted.
“People who feel vulnerable or afraid, I think it’s really important that they can come out and see a very welcoming, open, supportive group of people,” Wild said. “People who need that kind of support… will feel it here.”
In a news release ahead of the festival, officials with the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center predicted more than 10,000 people would show up Sunday.
Estimates of this year’s attendance were not immediately available.
Lehigh Valley Public Media — the parent organization of LehighValleyNews.com — is a sponsor of Lehigh Valley Pride.
