Goldendale's First-Ever Pride Brings Community Together to Celebrate Love
Happy to Celebrate Pride. Photo Credit: John Longfellow. “I have been shooting events in Goldendale since before 2006. Mostly sports but also community events,” said John Longfellow, “It is not a service I perform for pay. It is a passion and an honor that this community allows me to pursue it. There are over 400,000 photos of the people in our community on my website, dating back to 2006. Kurt Ross, a friend of the family, invited me to attend the Pride Event and I attended. It was an event full of friendship, love, and pride. I was proud to be able to make a contribution to its success.”
Over 300 people attended Goldendale’s first-ever Pride event on July 31st, 2021 at The Dirty Cowgirl. The historic moment for the community was made possible by local businesses, organizations, and community members who joined together to create a night dedicated to celebrating love, joy, and community in the face of adversity.
Event organizers and attendees said the event was an incredible success.
“I’m positively thrilled with the way the event came together, and I’m immensely proud- not just of my fellow organizers, and attendees, but of the community of Goldendale at large for celebrating the freedom each and every one of us has- to feel confident and comfortable with who we are,” said Sarah Bartell, Goldendale Pride Organizer.
Event organizers and attendees also expressed their gratitude for being seen, heard, and for the feeling of love, acceptance, and safety they felt from the community during the event.
“We are so grateful to all of you, our attendees and community members, for making this event everything we dreamt of and more,” said Goldendale Pride Organizer, Skylar Newkirk. “We radiated so much support that night that we received absolutely zero hate. Thank you all for keeping Pride going in the places it’s most needed.”
Photo Credit, Seth Johnson Photography.
“It was incredible!!!” said Andrew Halm, Goldendale’s first openly Gay City Councilor. “We are already looking forward to next year's event.” Photo Credit. Theresa Babler.
Manning the booths and bussing the tables. Pictured: Kurt Ross, Kent Apostol, Josh VanHorn and Dan Lefever. Photo Credit: John Longfellow.
“It’s a milestone for the LGBTQ community in Goldendale to celebrate their first Pride event,” said Kent Apostol, Goldendale Pride Organizer. “The amount of support we’ve received from friends, family, and members of the community was incredible. The Pride event was a huge success just in terms of creating more visibility because visibility leads to acceptance and acceptance leads to inclusion and inclusion leads to equality.”
Prestige Sounds NW DJ’d with Enthusiasm
Event goers said the DJ really brought the beats and the love on Saturday night.
“The DJ was excellent,” said Ryan Senter, Volunteer Firefighter “I hope we get to do it again next year.”
Larry Zelaya, Owner, and DJ of Prestige Sounds NW, said he was glad to be a part of something positive that represented unity in the community of Goldendale.
“It was a great feeling to see so many come together, smiling, hugging & just all around happy,” said Larry Zelaya, Owner, and DJ of Prestige Sounds. “These times are not like they used to be and we need more positivity in this world.”
Photo Credit: Theresa Babler.
The historic moment was documented by no less than three professional photographers.
John Longfellow, Seth Johnson, and Theresa Babler all made it a priority to capture the historic moment for the town of Goldendale.
“It’s important for me as part of the community to showcase Pride because as you probably know, this is a highly conservative area and this was, in my opinion, an extremely important historical event for the local LGBTQ+ community,” said Seth Johnson, a local photographer who helped to document Goldendale’s first Pride with his photography. “I enjoyed seeing people being able to celebrate together here for the first time in Goldendale’s history.”
Photo Credit John Longfellow.
Supporting LGBT Youth
Organizers and Pride goers alike said supporting their community's youth was a big driver in their decision to participate in Pride this year. Pride organizers made sure to create an environment that would be inclusive and welcoming of all ages and said that it paid off in a big way for youth.
Youth celebrating at Goldendale’s First Pride. Photo Credit: John Longfellow.
“Small, rural pride events are important to me because I want youth to know they’re not alone,” said Pride Organizer Skylar Newkirk, “Several youth in attendance told me they’ve never experienced such pride in their identity.”
Several local youths said that they had never felt more accepted or more proud of their identity than they did the day they got to see Goldendale host its first-ever Pride event.
“Our community in Goldendale has always been pretty closed off to the outside world. That doesn’t change the fact that we have youth in the area that are struggling with their identities. To me having Pride in Goldendale lets our youth know they are seen, loved, and not alone. So, I donated my time and supplies to make a balloon garland, Pride letters for the fence, and a heart backdrop,” said Trisha Atchley, Owner of Fairygodmother’s Events.
Youth celebrating at Goldendale’s First Pride in front of a rainbow balloon garland which was made by Fairygodmother’s Events. Photo Credit: John Longfellow.
Theresa Babler, school counselor and photographer said it was great to see her former students enjoying the event.
“I have been a school counselor in Goldendale since 1991,” said Babler “Twenty-five of those years were spent at the middle school. Over the years, I have talked with many students about their sexuality, whether it is queer, bi, transgender or even heterosexual. It was very important for me to be at this event where these people, including former students, could be loud and proud, and not just a secret behind closed doors.”
Youth celebrating at Goldendale’s First Pride. Photo Credit: John Longfellow.
Work to Do In Creating Wider Acceptance
Goldendale’s First Pride came about as a result of anti-LGBTQ vandalism prompting Goldendale City Councillor Andrew Halm, to give away free pride flags to his community for Pride month and put together a team to help plan Goldendale’s first-ever Pride event.
In addition, some businesses said that they received pushback for supporting Goldendale’s first Pride but that the pushback only solidified the need for them to show their support and solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
“We placed a small rainbow flag in our planter in front of our restaurant during pride month. We had a couple of our regular customers say they would not eat here if we support PRIDE,” said Nikki Lobb-Rylands, owner of The Town House Cafe.
The Town House Cafe said they lost some business because of their choice to support Pride in Goldendale but that the community came through to help support them.
“When several of my friends and customers saw this they wanted to make up for the income we were losing. So they bought over $350 in gift certificates and we decided to write them to the Pride event,” said Lobb-Rylands.
Halm said that although there had been some bumps in the road, the event had been such a success and wonderful moment of community togetherness that he was already looking forward to planning for next year's Pride event.
“It was a privilege and an honor to host this event for such an amazing group of people,” said Kory Geddes, Owner of The Dirty Cowgirl. Photo Credit: Theresa Babler.
