Rainbows through the rain: Pride celebrates diversity and inclusion with few interruptions

ZANESVILLE − Despite the cloudy and rainy weather, nothing but rainbows could be seen at the 2024 Zanesville Pride event at Zane's Landing Park on Saturday.

Hundreds of festival attendees crowded the park as the day progressed, celebrating diversity, shopping and visiting the vendors on site and watching drag performances.

The event officially kicked off at noon, with Sasha Bloomingdale, otherwise known as the event organizer Andy Hooks performing the national anthem, decked out in a glittering patriotic flag dress. Following the welcome, Muskingum County Commissioner Mollie Crooks addressed the crowd and read the commissioner's proclamation for the day.

Crooks began, "Two years ago I didn't know Andy Hooks, and he reached out to me and he invited me to the 2022 event. And I have to say, I was a little anxious coming into this event. I'm an elected official. What will people think of me? Will they like me for who I am? Will they judge me for what I do and the decisions that I make? Will they call me a derogatory name? I especially don't like the word politician. It's never said with flattery. Can anyone relate? I thought you might."

She continued, "What I found at my first Pride event were people who welcomed me and who were willing to tell me their stories. The first person I met was Geno. I met Geno and he told me his story of a tortuous journey to self-love and self-acceptance." Crooks then went on to read the proclamation.

Appalachian Regional Representative Kaleb Knowlton from Senator Sherrod Brown's office spoke next, highlighting his Pride socks and the senator's support.

The festival was briefly interrupted just before kick off by a group protesting the event. The group of individuals strolled the festival walkway, faces and most identifying marks concealed, carrying bull horns and a variety of flags. The man leading the group used his speaker to shout about God, liberty and being members of proud families. The shouts were drowned out by the crowd, offering to give the individuals mom hugs and prayers for them. The group retreated from the festival peacefully, and the crowd continued to celebrate for the remainder of the afternoon.

Callie Buchanan, a fourth-year political science and international affairs student at the University of Cincinnati was able to identify the men as members of the Patriot Front group using a website that tracks groups known for these types of interruptions. Buchanan and her mother Lori were at the event with the Muskingum County Social Justice Coalition. Members of the protest also wore the patch affiliated with the Patriot group.

Another group of protestors descended on the event later in the afternoon, holding a banner crafted to say "Fight Against White Replacement" and exchanging remarks with the crowd and shouting racial slurs at attendees. The Zanesville Police Department was quickly on location for the second group and maintained the peace.

Hooks said, "Just let them go. They have just as much right to be anywhere that anybody else does. They have their own opinions like we have our opinions. We just don't want to pay them any mind. Let them do their peace and move on."

The event continued with the recognition of the board and the naming of the Pride Ambassador for the year, Monica Staley. Georgi Grey was honored as well, for her work with the Jenna P Project, which helps those experiencing grief related to suicide.

The crowning of a new Miss Zanesville Pride was a close call between four drag queens, Trixie Moore, Lysistrata Jones, Samantha Rayne and Jinger Ayle. Taking home the crown was Jones, who also won the talent portion of the pageant. Moore won for Creative Eveningwear and the runner-up for the title was Jinger Ayle.

"Pride is going great so far. It's a wonderful turnout, the weather is nice, the breeze feels good," Hook said Saturday. "Our kick off was wonderful with Sherrod Brown's office here and the commissioner's office here. Next year we just want to keep growing bigger and bigger and getting more people involved. I'm actually going to start reaching out to other counties, Morgan and Guernsey and Perry. I've made some connections with other people in groups there so we're going to try to get them to come in and make this bigger every year."

The one piece of advice Hooks said he likes to give to everyone is "Be yourself and don't be silenced."

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Rainbows through the rain: Pride celebrates diversity and inclusion with few interruptions