VILLAGE OF WARWICK – On Saturday evening, Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard is expected to light up an art display at Stanley Deming Park to “illuminate pride” at a community-wide event that will encourage acceptance and celebrate LGBTQ pride.
Day of Acceptance, Illuminate Pride, hosted by the Warwick Valley Community Center and Gay-Straight Alliance/Living Well Youth Group, will be free for people of all ages to attend in downtown Warwick. It will take place from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Stanley Deming Park. Attendees must wear face masks and social distance. The event’s rain date is Sunday.
There will be food and drinks, crafts, speakers, musical performances, drag and art displays, some of which will be interactive. Speakers and performers will begin at 6 p.m. and the drag show is slated for 7:30 p.m. The mayor will perform the lighting ceremony at 8:30 p.m. and conduct short a presentation.
Though the group hosts annual youth pride celebrations, this will be their first Day of Acceptance organized by students at the center.
The new theme came about after some of the students voiced concerns about high suicide rates among teens over the past year, and the particularly high rates among young LGBTQ people, said Melissa Shaw-Smith.
“Something the students are telling us is that one of the biggest obstacles they face at their age is coming out to their parents and being accepted by their parents,” said Shaw-Smith, who worked with the students on the event. Shaw-Smith, creative director at Wickham Works, creates art-based programming for teens in the Warwick Valley Community Center’s Youth Task Force, Youth Advisory Board, and for their Gay-Straight Alliance.
Unlike in years past, there will not be a pride parade due to concerns about spreading COVID-19, Shaw-Smith said.
Other pride events going on this month in the Mid Hudson Valley include the Newburgh LGBTQ Center’s 2021 Pride Caravan that will travel through Newburgh, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Kingston and New Paltz on June 20; Pride at Old Rockville presented by the town of Wallkill and Orange County, NY Pride on June 12;
lbellamy@th-record.com
