Capital City Pride Weekend events to kick off Pride Month in Olympia for 31st year
Olympia’s annual Capital City Pride celebration will be back in person this year, after the pandemic moved celebrations online.
This year’s event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 4, at the Port Plaza. The theme is Resilience & Brilliance, according to the event flyer.
The Olympia City Council read a proclamation on May 24 recognizing June as Pride Month, and recounting Olympia’s history as a safe place for the queer community. The proclamation states that Olympia was the first small city in Washington to have a Pride celebration outside Seattle, and it’s been celebrating now for 31 years.
Olivia Salazar de Breaux, the city’s Equity & Inclusion coordinator, said the city will be flying the Progress Pride flag over City Hall from June 3-6. There also will be Pride flags placed around the downtown corridor.
Salazar de Breaux said the city is helping fund the celebration through its cultural events budget and with a Parking & Business Improvement Area grant. She said Mayor Pro Tem Clark Gilman will speak at the event, as well as the city’s Poet Laureate Ashly McBunch.
“It’s really exciting to be able to support Pride this year as we’ve done in so many other years,’‘ Salazar de Breaux said.
Natalie Coblentz, president of Capital City Pride, said the nonprofit has revamped its event mission statement to reflect its nature as a welcoming, open, safe and inclusive space for the community.
“We are committed to the journey of understanding and challenging all forms of oppression, including but not limited to, underrepresented orientations and expressions of one’s sex, gender and sexuality,” Coblentz said.
There will be 16 local LGBTQIA+ performers, artists, nonprofits, organizations and more, according to promotional flyers. The parade included in previous years isn’t on the list of events.
The flyers say it is a sober event, and non-alcoholic drinks available. Also included is a “Zen Den” for meditation, and attractions for kids.
The event is free, but Olympia Pride is accepting donations of $5 to $100.
Olympia City Council member Dontae Payne said it is moving to sit among other council members as an openly gay man. He said when he first moved to Olympia, he fell in love with how open and accepting the community was.
“I’m just happy to be a part of this community from this side of things and be one of many people who continue to do the work in making sure that this place continues to be welcoming and open to all people,” Payne said.
This story was originally published May 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
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