Hundreds of community members, food vendors and nonprofit organization representatives gathered and enjoyed live music from the Bel Canto Choir and The Divas at Homewood’s Irwin Park for the Homewood-Flossmoor Pride Fest.
This was the third annual Pride Fest organized by the Village of Homewood, the Village of Flossmoor and the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District since the festival was revived after the pandemic. The event celebrated and showed support for LGBTQ+ members of the community.
Some attendees were draped in Pride flags worn as capes. Others waved Pride flags distributed by the Village of Homewood, PFLAG Homewood-Flossmoor and other vendors.
Five trees in Irwin Park were wrapped in tarp, forming the colors of the rainbow. One tree was wrapped in purple and blue, another in green, another in yellow, another in orange and another in red.
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) delivered a speech and expressed gratitude to the community for coming together.
“This could not be done without love. This could not be done without us looking out for each other despite what looks like an ugly climate,” Kelly said. “Do not get weary. That’s what they want. We have to fight the good fight.”
For the third year in a row, the Bel Canto Choir was the first musical act.
Chicago cover band, the Divas, was the following musical act. They performed “Pink Pony Club,” by Chappell Roan, “Crazy” by Brittney Spears, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” by Shania Twain and other songs from woman-fronted bands and female singers.
“Pride is important because it’s important to celebrate diversity of all kinds,” the Divas member Gabrielle Garza said. “It’s important to lift up marginalized communities and take time to celebrate how we’re all different.”
The Anxiety & Stress Center, Creative Approaches to Therapy, FLAIR, Homewood Business Association, Homewood-Flossmoor High School’s Alphabet Soup, PFLAG Homewood-Flossmoor, Planned Parenthood of Illinois and Sertoma Star Services provided information to attendees about their organizations.
The food and drink vendors included but weren’t limited to Buona Beef, Cork Gaming & Wine Bar, Crab Bagz, D’s Cookie Dough, and Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery.
Homewood Village Communications Manager Antonia Steinmiller and Village Events Director Marla Youngblood were at the Village of Homewood booth passing out Home Sweet Homewood drawstring bags, rainbow colored Love stickers and rainbow-colored bracelets. Steinmiller helped tie bracelets onto youngsters’ wrists upon request.
Flossmoor Community Relations Board Chair Mariana Baylis and Homewood-Flossmoor High School graduate Madison Clarke were at the Village of Flossmoor booth. They handed out candy, Pride-themed bracelets and Village of Flossmoor swag bags.
“Everybody should be able to love who they love and be happy. There’s no reason why we should be able to love who we love and they can’t,” Clarke said.
Jen Wojcikowski and Veronica Cullinan were at the Sertoma Star Services booth. Attendees spun a wheel at the booth to receive prize stickers with inspirational messages such as “you are doing the best you can.”
Rachel Nati Hardy, Tracey Hill, and Rebecca Fassbende were at the PFLAG Homewood-Flossmoor booth, which had “Trans Kids Rock!” yard signs available for purchase with a $20 donation. The organization has monthly support meetings in Homewood for LGBTQ+ people and their family members.
Dodi Wians, director of development and community relations for Open Access; Kristen Ryan of Open Acces; and Grady’s Snack N Dine manager Ian Woith worked the booth shared by the Homewood Business Association and Open Access, a Homewood-based nonprofit organization that provides essential items to families in need.
Attendees painted rocks at the HBA booth. Woith, Wians and Ryan said the painted rocks will be used in a “kindness garden” that the HBA will open in downtown Homewood on Martin Avenue.
Crab Bagz prepared and served steak, shrimp, chicken and vegetable shisha bobs to attendees.
“As a Black woman, I understand what it feels like not to be accepted. So, I’m here to support everybody,” Crab Bagz owner Paris Walker said. “One love. One voice. We all bleed the same blood.”
Homewood resident Ray Gonzalez ordered food from Crab Bagz.
“I’m gay. I’m Latino. And for me, all the things that are happening right now with the current government are just saddening,” Gonzalez said. “We should move forward, not backwards.”
Flossmoor Art Council Executive Director Troy Holmes and his husband, Qadree Holmes, were one of the first same-sex couples to enter a civil union in Illinois in 2011. He attended Pride Fest with about a dozen friends.
“That’s our identity in Homewood and Flossmoor – inclusiveness, openness to all types of things,” Holmes said. “There are a lot of allies and a lot of support here.”
Jim Mendoza, a friend of Holmes, traveled to Pride Fest from the North Side of Chicago.
“I’m 45, and I remember growing up gay in a time when it wasn’t necessarily accepted,” Mendoza said. “It’s so hard to be young and alone – when you don’t think that anyone else in the world sees you for who you are. And that’s why Pride is important. That’s why we have to keep coming out.”
