BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The invitation was designed to be as inspirational as it is clear: Everyone is welcome.
Whether one is gay, non-binary, trans or straight, the welcome mat is out at the free, day-long Lehigh Valley Pride festival on Sunday at the SteelStacks campus.
- The Lehigh Valley Pride festival will be held Sunday, Aug. 20 at the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem
- The free event will be held outside of Allentown for the first time
- The festival will include food, vendors, drag performances and other offerings
“We are an open and welcoming community,” said Christian Orr, he/they, senior events manager for Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, of Allentown, which presents Lehigh Valley Pride.
“We want all to be part of it."Christian Orr, he/they, Lehigh Valley Pride
“We want all to be part of it,” Orr said. “But we know there are still people who won’t accept us for who we are and what we do.
“The whole point is, we’re here and we’ve been here and we’re not going anywhere. And if there are those who can’t deal with it, that’s a them problem. We just want to exist.”
For the first time in Lehigh Valley Pride’s 30 years of existence, the festival will come to Bethlehem.
The event will be held 2-8:30 p.m. Sunday and will feature a cornucopia of attractions. In addition to great food, Orr said it will include drag performances, singers, comedians, and a youth parade during the middle of the festival.
Other offerings include story hours, a video game truck, therapy dogs, instagrammable photo booth stations and a sober dance party at the welcome center.
Lehigh Valley Public Media is a partner with the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, which presents Lehigh Valley Pride. Among events at the station on the SteelStacks campus will be a sensory-friendly family area equipped with bean bag chairs, rugs, quiet toys/sensory toys, a book nook stocked with chairs for reading and shades/blackout curtains to dim outside light.
In observance of its 30th anniversary, Lehigh Valley Pride will for the first time present the festival free of charge. Previously, admission was $10.
The decision to move the festival to the SteelStacks from the Jewish Community Center in Allentown was due in part to frame the event as being representative of the entire Lehigh Valley.
“We were hyper-aware of the sort of reputation Bradbury-Sullivan has, that we serve only Allentown,” Orr said. “ But we serve the Greater Lehigh Valley and beyond. So, strategically and intentionally, we decided to bring the entire Lehigh Valley together. Moving to SteelStacks was part of that, because it’s a bigger venue.”
Orr was mindful to point out festival events aren’t limited to the SteelStacks campus.
“We’re still doing the flag raising in Easton at 9 a.m.,” Orr said. “And we’ll have speakers there and the choir from the MCC Lehigh Valley (Metropolitan Community Church of Lehigh Valley. And we’re still doing the parade in Allentown at 11 a.m.
“It’s been my intention and the intention of our executive director [Ashley Coleman] to bring the kind of festival to all of the Lehigh Valley that it deserves. This does it more than ever before.”
Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center provides a vibrant, inclusive space in the Lehigh Valley for all of the region's LGBTQ+ residents, Orr said.
The center works to produce affirming community programming, and address barriers to care through its LGBTQ+ health programs, according to the organization. It also strives to advocate for the community and makes the Lehigh Valley more equitable through its LGBTQ+ Education Institute.
