Hundreds of community members and travelers from other parts of the Chicago region and dozens of vendors and nonprofit organizations gathered to celebrate Pride Month in Irwin Park in Homewood on the evening of Friday, June 7.
The event celebrated and showed support for the LGBTQ+ members of the community.
The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District organized Homewood Pride Fest in collaboration with the villages of Homewood and Flossmoor. The event featured performances from three musical acts — the Bel Canto Community Choir, Six of Spades and Beyond the Blonde.
Homewood-Flossmoor High School social workers Danie Van Vleit, left, and Kristina Zandi. (Nick Ulanowski/H-F Chronicle)
Some attendees sat in lawn chairs to watch the musical acts. Others set up tents. Others danced or played with beach balls. Many waved Pride flags while exploring the festival.
Pride Fest from Indiana and got their faces painted.
(Nick Ulanowski/H-F Chronicle)
“Contrary to our typical set, that was actually our only sad song that we’re playing today,” Six of Spades member Kelly Parker said after they performed their rendition of “Racy” by Olivia Rodrigo.
“This is Pride. It’s a fun event. It’s supposed to be joyful. We wanted to feed into that,” Six of Spades member Ave Van Til said. “Instead of putting [the audience] into a sad space like we often do.”
Even though Pride is a celebration, Van Til stressed that it’s also a protest.
“It’s a recognition of past protests that have gotten us to where we are. Because it started as a riot. And continually, people are people are being oppressed. There are still a lot of issues that need to be solved,” Van Til said. “We [the LGBTQ+ community] share a language and it’s really beautiful. But it’s also really important to keep fighting.”
“Not only do we have many members of the LGBTQIA community in our organization but we obviously support all members of the community,” Bel Canto Community Choir director Carrie Bonanotte said. “About 80% of our chorus is from Homewood and Flossmoor. We have members in Tinley Park, Mokena and Park Forest as well.”
Homewood-Flossmoor Park District commissioner Angie Coderre, Flossmoor Mayor Michelle Nelson and Homewood Assistant Village Manager Terence Acquah gave short speeches.
“How are we doing, Homewood, Flossmoor, girls, gays, theys and allies?” Coderre said. “As someone who grew up in the Homewood-Flossmoor community, it’s so great to come back as a gay adult and raise my own family here. It means so much to see everyone come out to support, celebrate and have a good time.”
Coderre said that when she and her wife moved from the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago to buy a house and start a family, there was no hesitation in where they wanted to live.
“There’s no better place to be lesbian parents than Flossmoor, Illinois. And I mean that with my full heart,” Coderre said.
Homewood District 153 School Board president Shelly Marks was among those in attendance. She wore a Pride hat and stressed that she was representing herself not the school district.
“I’m so happy that we’re doing this and celebrating equality for everyone,” Marks said. “It’s really important for every person to be their authentic self.”
Near the vendors, several different Pride flags hang from the trees — including the transgender flag, the bisexual flag and others.
Valerie Schroder painted the faces of festival-goers young and old. She said she didn’t know how many faces she painted because she’d been doing it non-stop throughout the event.
Emily Gardner traveled to Homewood Pride Fest from Indiana and got her face painted.
“We’re from a small town and you don’t see people celebrate [Pride] a lot,” Gardner said, adding that she enjoys “seeing festivals like this with all types of diversity and everybody here.”
The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District’s booth displayed a poster that said “Everyone’s welcome here” with hands of different races holding various Pride flags. They provided info about Homewood-Flossmoor Park District programs and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois handed out free condoms, buttons in both English and Spanish, chapstick, pens, tissues and bottles of hand sanitizer.
“Grab how many you may need,” Planned Parenthood of Illinois program manager Abigail Rivera said to attendees approaching the booth.
“A lot of folks know us for reproductive health and don’t also know that we’re here for our queer community,” Rivera said. “We are the leading provider of gender-affirming hormone therapy.”
The Homewood-Flossmoor chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) handed out free Pride flags and told attendees about their monthly support meetings. According to Amanda Jo Greep, the head of PFLAG’s Homewood-Flossmoor Chapter, the chapter is only 11 months old so this is their first big community event.
“Homewood-Flossmoor has long been championed for our diversity,” Greep said. “We are so lucky to live in the community we do, especially in the face of the national climate that we’re in for LGBT folks, for queer folks, for trans folks. They’re under attack nationwide – our children, our families, our communities.”
Homewood-Flossmoor High School social workers Dannie Van Vlier and Kristina Zandi had a booth. They informed attendees about the resources they provide to students and about Alphabet Soup, the after-school club formally known as the Gay-Straight Alliance.
“We can write plans to help students change names, genders, be able to utilize alternative restrooms, locker rooms, uniforms for P.E. and be able to make so many different accommodations for students,” Vlier said, explaining their roles as social workers at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. “The Gay-Straight Alliance changed names as more groups of young people began taking ownership of not only their gender but their sexuality.”
The food vendors included but weren’t limited to Crab Bagz, Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery, D’s Cookie Dough, Buona Beef, Kona Ice, Juancho’s Tacos and Nissa’s Nina Pudding & More. Attendees chatted with each other as they stood in long lines awaiting their food.
Flossmoor Station ran out of beer within the first hour and a half of Homewood Pride Fest.
Crab Bagz prepared shish kabobs with the choice of shrimp, chicken, steak and/or vegetables. They ran out of shrimp and steak within the first hour of the fest. A Crab Bagz employee had to return to the restaurant at 18681 Dixie Hwy in Homewood to grab more supplies.
“We’re here to support. We love everyone and we love to bring it,” Crab Bagz co-owner and chef Greg Walker said.
At the end of the evening, attendees lined up to take pictures with the lead singer of Beyond the Blonde in her extravagant, Pride-themed jumpsuit. They were taken in front of a sign with the band’s logo.
