Pride celebration returning to downtown Merced following hiatus. Here are the highlights
For the first time since 2019, Merced County residents are invited to celebrate the community’s LGTBQ+ members at an all-day festival in downtown Merced.
Merced County Pride Fest 2022 will take place in the heart of downtown Merced on Sept. 17. The festivities are free to attend and will feature workshops, performances, food, local vendors and more.
The upcoming event marks the first time since 2019 that such a celebration has been held in downtown Merced. But rather than lose momentum during that hiatus, Merced Pride Center Executive Director Jennifer McQueen said the LGTBQ+ community and its allies have continued to flourish and become more visible in the three years since.
“The community is so ready and so excited for this to happen,” McQueen said. “It really feels like a big Pride birthday party. It’s such a big celebration for the community as a whole.”
Workshops, performances and more planned for Pride Fest
Pride Fest celebrations are slated to kick off with two artist workshops at the Merced Multicultural Arts Center.
The first, titled “Exfoliating Trauma Through Art,” will run from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. The workshop will allow participants to explore “the freedom and release in utilizing your creative side to heal your inner trauma,” according to the event description.
Attendees can register ahead of time online, although it isn’t necessary to register in advance.
The second workshop is scheduled 2:30-4:30 p.m. Titled “Creator Space,” the event is meant to be an open, family-friendly workshop for LGTBQ+ individuals and their loved ones to create art together.
The workshops are intended to offer community members who may not want to join the big festival a quieter place to celebrate Pride, McQueen said.
Pride festivities will move outdoors 5-9 p.m. for a street festival spanning K to M streets, along with Bob Hart Square and Canal Street.
About 80 booths ranging from local vendors to resource stations to food booths are expected to line downtown Merced. Local organizations, businesses, food trucks, vendors and artists will all be present. The festivities also include a youth zone and a LGBTQ+ mobile library.
Bob Hart Square will host a series of guest speakers, as well as an all-vinyl DJ set, drag performances, live music and a community dance party.
After the street festival comes to a close at 9 p.m., attendees age 21 and up can go to The Partisan for an after-hours party until closing time.
By the time the celebrations are done, McQueen said she hopes attendees end the night feeling welcomed and connected to the Merced community.
“I truly hope people leave feeling physically connected,” McQueen said. “I hope people leave with a wave of eyes being opened to how many other folks in this community not only identity as queer, but are a supportive ally.”
Residents celebrate progress in Merced, but not without struggles
Merced residents have seen celebrations of diversity, inclusion and progress come in starts and stops over the years.
Merced’s LGBT Community Center was asked in 2014 to remove its flag by the building’s owner. The center’s staff said that they informed the property’s owners during the rental process that they wanted to use the flagpole, but were later told that only the American and California flags could be flown at the site.
Other messages intended as symbols of solidarity have also been shot down by the City Council before on account of being too politically charged for the city. A proposed Black Lives Matter street mural was rejected in 2020 after a barrage of residents publicly opposed it.
Also during Pride Month last year, an LGBTQ+ flag was burned in downtown Merced during an act of vandalism.
While the Progress Pride flag was raised again in Bob Hart Square in June, some City Council members and residents were hesitant to support flying it on city property. Critics said they were wary of hoisting any symbol other than the American flag.
Still, residents praised the first annual Merced Queer Film Festival and other recent events celebrating the LGBTQ+ community as signs of local progress. McQueen and other advocates have said they’ve watched Merced grow into a more accepting place where diversity can more vibrantly be party of the community.
McQueen said that progress was evident in the sheer number of allies and LGBTQ+ folks who contacted the Merced Pride Center to volunteer for Merced County Pride Fest.
“We still are getting emails from people who want to come that day and help out. I’ve been overwhelmed by how many people are coming to volunteer,” McQueen said. “We are everywhere. We look like everyone.”
