Thousands fill downtown Spokane for Pride festivities

Rainbow flags by the hundreds weaved through downtown Spokane Saturday as part of the 31th annual Spokane Pride parade.

Despite ominous rain clouds and a brief drizzle, thousands poured into downtown Spokane, many from out of town or out of state to celebrate and demonstrate their support and pride. As many states advance anti-LGBTQ bills across the country, this year’s theme is “Never Going Back.” By the time the parade, led by Spokane’s two-spirit and Indigiqueer community, had finished winding through town, the sun had cracked through the clouds.

Close behind representatives of the two-spirit and Indigiqueer community were members of the PEACE Angels, who wear high wings draped with fabric and place themselves between protesters and parade attendees. Many nonprofits, corporations and politicians, including Mayor Nadine Woodward and one of her challenger’s in the August primary, Lisa Brown, helped fill out the parade.

The Pride parade has grown by orders of magnitude since its humble beginnings in the early ’90s from a small protest march through the streets of downtown Spokane to encompassing all of Riverfront Park. The celebration also has expanded significantly from last year when it was still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Rose Stevens, treasurer of Spokane Pride.

With the second year of in-person events since the pandemic, over 160 vendors, five entertainment stages and hundreds of Pride participants filled Riverfront. Activities and social services for teens were organized by Odyssey Youth Movement, while Spark Central hosted a kids zone for those aged 12 and under.

For many, the day was an opportunity to celebrate self-expression. Seth Baxter, a Spokane resident who attended several Spokane Pride parades in past years, was dressed head to toe in a rainbow suit and tie he found at Walmart, which he noted he had been surprised to find.

“I couldn’t live without it,” he laughed.

For Wren Anderson and Maeve Ide, the day’s celebrations held special significance. The two are dating, and it’s the first openly queer relationship either have ever been in.

“I really wanted to go with her because this is the first queer relationship I’ve really been in, and I wanted to have support from my community and from her, because she’s very important to me,” Anderson said.

Ide noted that this was her first pride parade ever, not just in Spokane.

“It’s very nice to have a sense of community and feel like there are other people like me,” she said. “This isn’t something I see in my day to day. I’m the only queer person at my job, and (Anderson) is the only queer person in my life right now.”

Strong turnout and high spirits Saturday were reassuring, Ide added.

“Especially with everything that’s been going on right now, all the legislation being passed in other states, it’s nice to know that there’s still hope for us,” she said.

Many have been joining the Spokane Pride parade for years, including Sean Brokl, who was celebrating downtown for the eighth year. Others, like Brokl’s friend, Kye Graf, have attended pride parade’s elsewhere, but never in Spokane. Graf resides in Montana but traveled west for the weekend to join a larger community’s Pride celebrations.

“I’m from Billings, Montana, and they do not have the acceptance like Washington, or Missoula where we live now, like they have,” Graf said.

Heather Hamilton and Heather Carter traveled a shorter distance, from Clarkston in southeastern Washington, but similarly felt that their hometowns were less accepting of members of the LGBTQ community. Neither had ever been to a Pride parade before and had considered driving to Seattle to participate for the first time but came to Spokane’s much closer festivities instead.

“I believe everybody should be able to love whoever they want, and there shouldn’t be restrictions on that or hate against that,” Hamilton said.