There were tens of thousands of people in downtown Greensboro Sept. 12, but somehow Greensboro Pride still felt like a family homecoming.
Maybe it was the petting zoo. Maybe it was the food trucks turning out tacos and dumplings faster than festivalgoers could eat them. Or maybe it was simply that, despite the size of the crowd, people could still spread out picnic-style in the park and have an actual conversation.
Early estimates from organizers put attendance at approximately 75,000 for Saturday’s festival, part of Greensboro Pride’s 20th anniversary celebration. But numbers don’t really capture what it felt like to be there.
There were some obvious growing pains. Set-up at the VIP tent was delayed. Some vendors could be seen rushing down the block to retrieve tables for their booths and volunteers seemed to be doing double duty. But once things got going, the VIP tent was staffed by friendly volunteers welcoming guests with generous swag bags and a variety of food and drink. Throughout the festival, vendor booths were busy with a steady stream of visitors.
That combination — a little imperfect and a lot welcoming — seemed fitting for an event produced largely by volunteers.
“I am so proud of the Greensboro Pride team, all of whom are unpaid volunteers,” said Christien Harden, co-director and co-chair of IMPAQT GSO, the nonprofit behind Greensboro Pride. “It takes over a year to plan a festival and parade like this, and every single person poured themselves into it.”
Throughout the day, there were reminders that Pride can be political without losing its sense of humor. A familiar face from Charlotte Pride worked the Greensboro crowd with a call-and-response about President Donald Trump. He would call out a setup about Trump’s “small …” and wait for the crowd to supply the punchline.
“Penis!” they shouted back.
Elsewhere, corporate booths attracted attention for a different reason: they were there. With some major companies retreating from Pride sponsorships and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, festivalgoers could be heard expressing excitement about the companies that continued to show up. Sheetz, Duke Energy, Ralph Lauren and others were visible throughout the festival.
Crest had an especially prominent presence as presenting sponsor of the 20th anniversary celebration. Representatives enthusiastically reminded visitors they were local while handing out generous supplies of toothpaste, toothbrushes and travel-sized mouthwash.
North Carolina A&T State University was represented in another notable way. PRISM, the university’s LGBTQIA+ and ally student advocacy organization, marched together during the day’s inaugural Pride parade. The student-led organization, launched in 2013, provides peer support, educational outreach and opportunities for LGBTQIA+ students and allies to build community on campus.
The festival offered plenty of opportunities to bring a little Pride home, too. Among the more memorable finds were four-packs of Booby’s “All Mock, No Cock” virgin mojitos — a product name seemingly made for a Pride festival. Vendors from across the Triad filled the festival with everything from North Carolina-made hot sauce and jewelry to art, clothing and other locally made goods. With so many small businesses represented, shopping the festival felt as much like exploring the wider Triad community as picking up a Pride souvenir.
Yet one of the most noticeable things about the afternoon was what wasn’t happening.
The music wasn’t so loud that it swallowed the festival. People could sit under the trees. They could talk. Friends could catch up. Families could relax. Kids could visit the petting zoo. Festivalgoers could wander through the booths and then find a spot in the park to simply enjoy one another’s company. At an event attracting tens of thousands of people, creating room for that kind of connection is no small accomplishment.
Harden credited both the community and the festival’s partners for making the day possible. “We owe enormous gratitude to the City of Greensboro and Greensboro Downtown Parks for all the time and effort they put into planning this with us,” Harden said. “And we’re so grateful to this community for showing up again and helping make it a record breaking year.”
The crowd of people filling downtown was huge, but the numbers weren’t what made Greensboro Pride’s 20th anniversary memorable. It was the smaller moments happening inside that crowd: people laughing together, collecting enough toothpaste to last for months, visiting with the animals, discovering local vendors, catching up with old friends and making new ones.
For one Saturday in downtown Greensboro, a very large Pride festival managed to feel surprisingly intimate.
It felt like a family homecoming.
This story is brought to you by Rosedale Health and Wellness and Dudley’s Place.
