Blount Pride will no longer seek Maryville’s Jack Greene Park as the location for its August 2024 festival after conversations surrounding safety and event content fell through, organizers said in a Wednesday, July 10 release. Board members did not list an alternative date or location for the festival.
Representatives of the organization confirmed any pride celebration would not resemble 2023’s Blount Pride festival , which brought hundreds of participants alongside dozens of protestors.
“Yes, our celebrations will look different this year, but we are not giving up on our mission to uplift and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community of Blount County,” Blount Pride Board Member Shannon Bryant told The Daily Times Wednesday afternoon. “Please watch our social media for announcements and sponsorship opportunities.”
In the release, posted to the Blount Pride Facebook page Wednesday morning, organizers said communications with Maryville representatives led them to decide not to pursue the park as a location. The group emphasized priorities and expectations, they wrote, including drag performances and “adequate safety protocols.”
“As a result of these communications, we as a board did not feel comfortable going forward with a festival at this location on our original planned date of August 31,” they wrote.
Organizers said they would host “various events” throughout the summer and fall to celebrate Pride.
This is now the second location to fall through for Blount Pride. The board turned to Maryville after attempts to revisit the location of Blount Pride 2023 at the Clayton Center for the Arts failed. Organizers, the group said in a June 4 release, were unable to reach an agreement after administrator Maryville College asked them to exclude drag from the festival.
Blount Pride 2023 cost Maryville College “tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses and other costs” the college administration wrote in a release the same day, after Blount County District Attorney Ryan Desmond sent a letter to organizers expressing a willingness to prosecute drag performers under the Adult Entertainment Act. The law, which has been declared unconstitutional, allows prosecutors to press charges against drag performers who appear within 1,000 feet of various establishments, such as churches.
A federal judge stayed the law in Blount County days before the celebration after the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee filed suit against Desmond on Blount Pride’s behalf. The case is pending the outcome of a similar suit’s appeal in federal court.
Blount Pride 2023 featured performances from drag artist Flamy Grant, who was named as a plaintiff in the ACLU’s suit. In June, Maryville College expressed a willingness to support the festival financially at an alternative location.
A representative of Maryville did not respond by press time.
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