Earlier this year, lifelong Owatonna resident Jen Hansen stood inside the local bowling alley as a group of kids, some that started off as strangers, celebrated one another with smiles, hugging, laughter and selfies.
She recently looked back on that day. Rainbowatonna had hosted a special event for the local Gender-Sexuality Alliances from both Owatonna and Waseca high schools, providing them a safe space to come together for a bowling and pizza party at SpareTime Entertainment. Hansen, who is a mother of a transgender daughter, recalled what she witnessed that night with great emotions.
“These kids all came together, such a simple gesture, and you could see the freedom they felt to be their true selves … All a part of the same community just celebrating who they are,” Hansen said. “I only wish my daughter had that.”
While Hansen’s daughter is now an adult, she is shifting her wish to something yet to come, something she feels both passionate and confident about.
“My one wish for this Saturday is that it will be filled with nothing but love and sunshine,” she said. “I want to see all these people come together to say we are community — we are all community and we are all neighbors. Whether we are LGBTQ, cisgendered or transgendered — we are all a community.”
From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Rainbowatonna will be hosting the second annual Pride in the Park event, celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in Owatonna. The event will include live music, food vendors, 40+ vendors, activity booths and more with the message that all are welcome. This is the second big Pride event the LGBTQ+ nonprofit has hosted, though in 2022 they did host a smaller community picnic.
“It’s nice to see that we’re making some movement as a community,” said Hansen, who serves as the secretary and treasurer for the Rainbowatonna board and has lived in Owatonna her entire life, noting that this is the first group of its kind to be rooted locally that she is aware of. “The efforts of Rainbowatonna and Alliance for Greater Equity, and just the community of Owatonna as a whole and the local chamber, we are all making an effort to be more inclusive and I am seeing movement. I am seeing change.”
Last year, while the Pride in the Park event as well as the annual drag show and Pride worship service that is included in the weekend were described as a beautiful celebration, it was not without its difficulties. From a small group of protestors stationed near the park event to hateful social media comments and a class with a local elected official, Rainbowatonna Chair Nathan Black said there were plenty of upsets, but that he feels the tides may be changing for 2024.
“I believe that most people are good and want the best for everybody in the community, but there are those who are very opposed to LGBTQ equality, racial diversity and most progressive ideals, and those people can be very loud and very intimidating. It is often disorienting for people to come face to face with that type of vitriol in their own community, and last year they did in fact come face to face with it,” Black said. “I think that brought home the reality for people that life may not be as ideal and safe and accessible for everybody the way they might have imagined, and now they seem to accept that we need to get a little uncomfortable, maybe put up a pride flag or speak up at church or school, and bring more awareness to this reality. There just seems to be a lot more willingness of others to be heard and known as an ally now.”
Hansen agreed with Black, saying the community perhaps needed to go through some “growing pains” to get to where they are now.
“You always hope your community steps up, and I think Owatonna is,” Hansen said. “We just had to go through the struggle a bit to see the light and allow others to see it, too.”
Seeing others struggle and make it through to the other side, not just OK, but happy, is one of the main reasons Black said Rainbowatonna is dedicated to bringing Pride events back year after year. Having grown up in Oklahoma struggling with his own identity as a gay man, Black said it can be a “very isolating” experience that can easily make someone feel hopeless.
“There is something about a happy, loving and joyful community of people celebrating their identity and uniqueness that is liberating and life-giving to LGBTQ folks,” Black said. “Without a doubt, I know there are kids, adults and just people all across our community in those very conservative, religious or political, settings who may not feel they can come out and be themselves.”
“But I think that there is a little bit more of a glimmer of hope, even for them, that one day that may be possible,” he continued. “On Saturday, they will see kids coming out, neighbors coming out and a new future becoming possible because these conversations aren’t just happening in San Francisco or New York — they are happening in Owatonna.”
People are encouraged to come to Dartts Park on Saturday, with a proclamation from the city recognizing Pride in the Park day shortly after 11 a.m. Guests are encouraged to enter the 600 Cherry Street entrance of the park.
The annual 21+ drag show will take place at 7 p.m. Friday at the Owatonna Elks Lodge. Tickets can be purchased at ticketleap.events/tickets/rainbowatonna/2nd-annual-rainbowatonna-drag-show .
The annual Pride Worship Service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Sunday at Associated Church in Owatonna.
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