MARYSVILLE — A newly formed nonprofit is set to host the first ever Pride festival in Marysville next week, one of about a half dozen other parades and festivals set to take place throughout the county to celebrate Pride month.
Vee Gilman and Mike Pieckiel, two organizers working to put together Marysville Pride, helped form a nonprofit to do so last winter. The group had about seven months to organize and prepare a brand new Pride festival in Snohomish County’s second largest city.
“That’s a very short timeline to make something like that happen,” Pieckiel said Thursday.
The group received support from other Pride organizations operating throughout the county.
Since helping form the organization last November, Gilman and Pieckiel said the response from locals in the LGBTQ+ community has been extremely positive. The group began holding regular meetings that became a kind of “anchor point” for community members, Gilman said.
“It’s no secret that it’s a difficult political climate and it’s a unique time to be talking about Pride and to be talking about being queer and trans,” Gilman said. “… It takes a really personal toll, and it can make it really easy to feel like, ‘Do I belong here in this nation?’”
The newly formed nonprofit hopes to change that by bringing LGBTQ+ events into the open through its new group. It’s first Pride event, scheduled for June 14, will feature a march to a festival, complete with performers, vendors, food and games. There will be a closet complete with gender-affirming clothing for those who may not have access to it at home, Pieckiel said, as well as a stylist giving free haircuts.
Through the festival, the organization’s main goal is to create a space where LGBTQ+ folks across the city have a chance to open up and be themselves while staying in their hometown.
For Gilman, the process of working in the nonprofit has helped them see their city through a different lens.
“It’s made me feel like this is actually my home and my community,” Gilman said. “It’s not just the place that I live. It’s a place where I belong.”
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
If you go: Marysville Pridefest, 11 a.m. June 14. 1605 7th St., Marysville. More info: marysvillewapride.org.
Here’s a list of some of the other Pride events set to take place across the county:
• Edmonds: 2-6 p.m. June 28. Civic Center Playfield, 598 Edmonds St. in Edmonds. More info: edmondspride.net.
• Everett: Various events June 20-22. Pride Block Party 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 21 at Wetmore Avenue between Pacific Avenue and Hewitt Avenue. More info: everettpride.org.
• Langley, Whidbey Island: Noon to 3 p.m. June 21. Parade starts at noon at the corner of Cascade Avenue and Camano Avenue. More info: southwhidbeypride.org.
• Mill Creek: Pride picnic, 1 p.m. June 14. Corner of 164th Street and North Road. More info: millcreekpride.org.
• Monroe: Noon to 4 p.m. June 8. 413 Sky River Parkway, Monroe. More info: monroeequitycommunity.org/pride.
• Snohomish: Various events June 6-8. Parade at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 7 on First Street in Snohomish. More info: historicdowntownsnohomish.org/snohomishpride.
• Stanwood-Camano: Noon to 4 p.m. June 7. Located at Freedom Park, Camano Island. More info: facebook.com/stanwoodcamanopride.
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