Despite the rain this weekend, the Island came alive with a variety of events geared towards acknowledging and uplifting the LGBTQ+ community. And that was not more vividly on display for the Fourth annual Pride Parade in Oak Bluffs.
Before the parade officially began, crowds arriving to town hid from the rain at local businesses including Nancy’s and The Ritz Cafe, where they were hosting “pregame” parties including themed drinks, merch, and celebratory music.
And promptly at 3 pm, local families, friends, business representatives, dogs, kids and others began marching from the Island Queen terminal towards Circuit Ave before circling back through Narragansett and finishing at Ocean park.
An array of organizations including the MV Museum, Union Chapel, Misty Meadows, Black Joy, MV Playhouse, the Regional High Schools Gay-Straight Alliance Club and more marched up Circuit Ave throwing candy, beads and glitter into the surrounding crowd. An aged Green RAM 250 from Mo’s Lunch also rolled through the parade with guests in the truck bed blowing bubbles and throwing sandwiches and cupcakes.
Leah Grinblatas, who was watching the parade with her friends and family, said that to her, pride is about “being unapologetically yourself and being loud about it.”
Tatum Bryan was also looking out over the parade. She was specifically trying to find her grandma Heidi Bryan, who was marching in this year’s parade with the First Congressional Church of West Tisbury. Bryan, adorned in a Deep Eddy’s “Y’all Means All” shirt and a rainbow bandana stated, “Pride parade weekend is the happiest day in all of O.B.”
At the conclusion of the parade in Ocean Park, a resource tent, organized by Scott Mullin, was set up offering information and support services for the LGBTQ+ community.
