WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Last year, Anna Guenther was headed to a queer dance party at Babe’s Bar in Bethel when she began to wonder about organizing a Pride celebration in White River Junction.
She brought up the idea to other community members and they quickly signed on to begin discussing what they wanted a Pride event in White River Junction to be like.
“One of the key things motivating me to move forward is it’s not just about this year. It’s about the next five years and the next 10 years. White River Junction is my home and I want us to have a Pride celebration and I think other people want us to have it too,” said Guenther, chair and founder of WRJ Pride Planning Committee. “I think a lot of us just passionately love our town and it’s a town that already loves parades.”
This Saturday beginning at noon, a “Queer Caravan” will drive through downtown White River Junction before gathering at the train station’s parking lot to listen to an hour of music by LGBTQ+ artists on 93.9 The River. Participants are encouraged to register ahead of time (a link can be found via the WRJ Pride Parade 2020 Facebook page) and decorate their vehicles.
“You don’t have to drive in the caravan to support us,” Guenther said, adding that Spectators can dress up, make signs and watch the caravan go by (socially distanced, of course).
Volunteers were in the process of organizing an in-person Pride parade and other activities when the COVID-19 pandemic came to the area, and the began to discuss ways that they could still host the event.
“We were talking about all-virtual events,” Guenther said.
After watching Hartford educators participate in a similar event, the WRJ Pride Planning Committee began thinking they could do the same: The car caravan is contactless, but it still allows people to be in the same place at the same time.
The Black Lives Matter movement has also influenced WRJ Pride.
“When meeting virtually post-pandemic to determine what kind of event, if any, we could move forward with, there was a strong consensus to using our existing organizational resources to support the BLM movement,” Guenther wrote in an email. “The planning committee decided to make a commitment to directing funds raised to paying performers of color and donating any surplus to The Root Social Justice Center’s Mutual Aid fund for QTBIPOC Vermonters, so that money raised will provide direct aid to queer Vermonters.”
Wolf Tree, a White River Junction cocktail bar, created a cocktail called “Angel Eyes” to support WRJ Pride and a “Justice Allows Growth” drink, with proceeds going toward JAG Productions.
Other events have also sprung up as part of WRJ Pride: On Thursday at 6 p.m. Woodstock’s Yankee Bookshop will host a Queer YA Authors Panel that features Dean Atta, author of The Black Flamingo, which won the Stonewall Book Award; Tobly McSmith, author of Stay Gold; and Rebecca Kim Wells, author of Shatter the Sky and the upcoming Storm the Earth. DJ ShaR4 & DeVote will provide music for an online Queer Dance Party featuring burlesque performances by Hi Ho Silver Works that begins at 7 p.m. on Friday and is being hosted by the Main Street Museum. WRJ Pride concludes on Sunday with an in-person, socially distanced coffee event on the river at the Main Street Museum that will take place from 10 a.m.-noon.
“I feel like it’s springing up out of the town itself. Once the committee decided to do that Saturday event, the other events sort of organically evolved,” Guenther said. “I’ve met 100% new people and that’s so wonderful, to get connected to all these queer people in the Upper Valley who may not own or rent a home in Hartford, but consider White River Junction their cultural home and nexus. It’s a special town.”
In addition to hosting Pride events, the nonprofit Main Street Museum is also serving as the financial sponsor for WRJ Pride.
“I feel like David Fairbanks Ford and that institution have started the process and they’ve already done a really great job of creating and cultivating a queer community in White River Junction,” Guenther said. “It’s the heart of White River to me. Definitely the queer heart.”
For more information about the Queer Caravan, including the route, visit facebook.com/WRJpride or email wrjpride@gmail.com.
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Here’s a look at Upper Valley-based events that are coming up over the next few days.
■Author Eric Jay Dolin will discuss his upcoming book, A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes, from 7-8 p.m. during an online event hosted by the Howe Library. Email megan.coleman@thehowe.org for Zoom link.
■Vt. state Rep. Tim Briglin and Vt. state Sen. Alison Clarkson will lead a discussion about the progress of the Global Warming Solutions Act through the Vermont General Assembly from 5:30-6:30 p.m. during Green Drinks’ virtual gathering. Register at sustainablewoodstock.org/green-drinks.
■Stop by the First Baptist Church of Lyme at 177 Dorchester Road from 5-7 p.m. for a Take-Out Pig Roast. The meal includes fresh pork, beans, salad, bread and dessert for $10. 603-795-4528.
■Get your tickets for a 7:30 p.m. online performance of Immediate Family by Paul Oakley Stovall, which is part of the Chandler Center for the Arts annual Vermont Pride Theater Festival. Talk follows viewing. Tickets are $10. chandler-arts.org.
■Get your tickets for a 7:30 p.m. online performance of The Homosexuals by Philip Dawkins, which is part of the Chandler Center for the Arts annual Vermont Pride Theater Festival. Talk follows viewing. Tickets are $10. chandler-arts.org.
■Ten BarnArts actors will perform 13 monologues during shows at 4 and 7 p.m. at Fable Farm in Barnard as part of a fundraiser for BarnArts Center for the Arts. Sliding-scale tickets cost $25-$100 and include a light dinner. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit barnarts.org, email info@barnarts.org or call 802-234-1645.
Editor’s note: Email Upper Valley-based events to calendar@vnews.com.
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
