The board of Alternative Resources of the Triad (ART), the 501(c)3 nonprofit that produces Greensboro Pride, announced the decision to cancel their 2021 festival due to an increase in COVID-19 Delta Variant cases in the Triad area. Previously scheduled for Sunday, September 19, barring further challenges with the pandemic, the festival is expected to return in 2022.
ART released the following statement:
“With the community we serve already dealing with autoimmune disorders, it would be irresponsible of Greensboro Pride to continue to hold an event that could become a super spreader. The board held an emergency meeting on Thursday, September 2, to make the decision. All Pride-sponsored events are cancelled as well.”
The Greensboro Pride Board held out hope until the last possible minute for the possibility of a change in the COVID situation, but felt that no matter what protections were taken, they wouldn’t be enough to stop potential spread of the new Delta variant at their event.
This marks the second year the festival has been postponed. Like most Pride events around the globe, Greensboro Pride was cancelled in 2020 as well, at the height of the first wave of the initial COVID-19 pandemic.
“Safety is our number one priority,” says Acting Chair Brian Coleman. “Our board felt we could not adequately provide that with the uptick in COVID cases, so we made the safest decision we could, even though it was [a] difficult decision to make.”
Greensboro Pride plans to bring the festival back on September 18, 2022. The organization is asking any vendors who wish to donate their vendor fees to the organization’s continuing outreach mission to notify Greensboro Pride at info@greensboropride.org. Otherwise, vendor fees will automatically be refunded.
Although all events are definitively on hold until next year, there is still one ray of Pride-related sunshine for this year. The #GSOPride Beer brewed by Little Brother Brewing will be available beginning September 13, at Little Brother Brewing in Greensboro, Bearded Goat, Mellow Mushroom Greensboro, The Bodega, Gate City Growlers, Beer Company and Goofy Foot Brewing.
In additional Pride-related developments, there are other festival cancellations, among them, Asheville’s Blue Ridge Pride, Hendersonville Pride, Winston-Salem Pride and Eastern North Carolina Pride.
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