‘Our city’s growing up’: Mountlake Terrace hosts inaugural Pride festival

Published 11:34 am Saturday, June 6, 2026

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Dozens packed the Jerry Smith Plaza in Mountlake Terrace on Friday evening for the city’s inaugural Pride festival.

The city blocked off part of 58th Avenue West for an evening filled with music and drag performances, a pet strut and stroll, food trucks, and local vendors.

“I’m so happy that they brought something that’s so meaningful to our local community,” said Amber Hudson, a Mountlake Terrace resident.

The city has raised a pride flag at City Hall for the past two years, but the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Commission has always thought about doing something bigger, said Andrew Appelwick, events coordinator for the city. This year, he reached out to Edmonds Pride to help organize a Pride event in Mountlake Terrace.

“Hearing community members say, ‘There’s finally a place where I feel welcome’ has meant more than even the event happening,” Appelwick said.

One booth at the event was Free Mom Hugs, which provides support — and hugs, of course — to LGBTQ+ people who might not have support from their families.

“It’s exciting to be at the first Mountlake Terrace Pride,” said Tonia King, a volunteer with Free Mom Hugs. “It’s so well organized, I’m impressed with it.”

Sin O’Matic, a drag performer from Shoreline, said there’s not usually a lot of opportunities to perform in the north Seattle area. As a self-proclaimed “mash-up queen,” she performed a mash-up of “HandClap” by Fitz and the Tantrums and “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Eurythmics for the crowd Friday.

“This is great that they invited us out here,” Sin O’Matic said. “It’s good to see that a community is still coming together and still representing diversity.”

Valyria, 8, sported a rainbow dress from Disneyland for the festival and said she was excited to have a Pride event in her city.

“It’s so close to home, instead of driving like an hour to a big one that is way less calm,” she said.

Some attendees traveled from neighboring cities to attend Friday’s event, including Shoreline resident Kristi Waite and her family.

“It’s important for us to bring our kids to things like this because I think it’s so good for them to see that there are other families that have two moms, or families that have two dads or all different types of families,” Waite said. “I love that we live in a place that wants to celebrate that.”

City Council member Sam Doyle reflected on how far Mountlake Terrace has come since she moved to the city in 2012.

“It feels like our city’s growing up,” she said.

Lynnwood, Snohomish and Stanwood were also set to celebrate Pride over the weekend with events scheduled for Saturday.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.