NEWBURYPORT — The countdown has begun for the city’s annual Pride celebration which is scheduled to kick off days before LGBTQ+ Pride Month begins in June. In addition to the ever-growing parade, events include a gay comedy show, a drag show and a youth Pride event, according to Newburyport Pride.
Since June 1 falls on a Sunday this year, Newburyport Pride board member Paul Goldberg said the Pride flag-raising ceremony at City Hall will take place Friday, May 30, with the annual Pride Parade stepping off a day later.
“We’ve tried to do the first weekend in June and, technically that is that,” he said. “We’re still saying it’s the first weekend in June. But the parade is May 31.”
A local nonprofit, Newburyport Pride works with the city to plan the annual Pride Progress flag raising ceremony, parade as well as festival immediately after.
“We’re excited, we’re nervous, but I think we’re in very good shape,” Goldberg said. “The Pride Parade and the festival are our biggest events. Those are really shaping up nicely.”
Holly Cashman co-chairs Newburyport Pride along with Mary Lovely and this year marks the first time the nonprofit has adopted a theme, “Existence is Resistance.”
Although she didn’t want to mention what’s happening in Washington, D.C. these days, Cashman said this year’s theme is a nod to the idea that now is not an easy time for the LGBTQ+ community.
“The entire history of LGBTQ+ rights has been a decades-long struggle but it feels like, over the last, oh let’s ballpark it and say 100 days, it’s been of a different magnitude,” she said. “This is a time when a lot of people in our community are struggling and targeted by executive orders, job loss and other financial hardships. So, just continuing to exist right now is a struggle.”
But the LGBTQ+ community, Cashman pointed out, has overcome plenty of obstacles in the past and will make it through the current days unscathed.
“This is a moment where resilience is needed and it’s a time that we can celebrate that,” she said.
In 2023, the city’s first-annual Pride Parade saw roughly 300 people turn out on a cold, damp Saturday. But with much better weather last year, that number soared to between 1,500 and 2,000 attendees.
Goldberg also co-chairs the Pride Parade along with Jonathan Tedford. He said he hopes to see a bigger parade this year than last.
“The interest for the parade is becoming very strong and I think we might even have more this year,” Goldberg said. “We’ve had a lot of people signing up and lots of interests in our (social media) posts about the parade “
The fun will actually get underway on Thursday May 29, with an official kickoff event at the Sunset Club on Plum Island from 4 to 8 p.m.
“We’ll have a DJ, drag queens and music,” Goldberg said. “All that kind of fun festival stuff and a nice party to get the festivities rolling.”
That night, drag queen Varla Jean Merman will also bring “The Errors Tour” to the Firehouse Center for the Arts.
According to the Firehouse website, Merman’s show promises to be a “tour de farce” packed with giant wigs, over-taxed costumes as well as musical numbers.
Goldberg said he has seen Merman many times in the past. He added she comes across as the love child of Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine.
“She’s very funny,” he said.
The following day will see the city getting in on the act with the annual Pride Progress flag raising in front of City Hall beginning at 4 p.m.
Over the past two years, Gov. Maura Healey as well as Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren have been the featured speakers at the ceremony.
Although Goldberg was tight-lipped about just who that might be featured this year, he added Mayor Sean Reardon is expected to speak before raising the multi-colored flag, just as he has done in the past.
“We will be making an announcement on the main speaker when things are final,” he said. “I’m afraid we can’t share that just yet. But the mayor will be speaking.”
The flag-raising ceremony will be followed by a Big Gay Comedy Show featuring Amy Tee, Will Smalley and Maria Palombi at Mission Oak’s Steeple Hall beginning at 7 p.m.
A youth Pride event will also be held that night at the Senior/Community Center beginning from 7 to 9 p.m.
“We don’t have any details on that, just yet,” Goldberg said.
The next day at noon, the third-annual Pride Parade will begin making its way throughout the downtown, starting at the Bartlet Mall. It will then head down Green Street, take right-hand turns on Merrimac, State as well as Pleasant streets.
“We won’t quite know until that day but all indications are that there will be a large crowd lining all of the downtown Newburyport streets,” Goldberg said.
The parade will end in Brown Square, where the second-annual Pride Festival will be held. It will run from 1 to 4 p.m. and promises to have plenty of vendors, food trucks, entertainment nonprofit booths as well as kids’ activities on tap.
“This is open to the entire community and is family friendly,” Goldberg said. “It’s fun, it’s festive, it’s joyous. There will be food, music, entertainment. Just a good time.”
The day will end with a New Queers’ Eve: Pride Month Opening Gayla at BareWolf Brewing in Amesbury beginning at 8 p.m. and running all night.
“This is new,” Goldberg said. “We’ve done a lot of drag queen events over there and this will be done in conjunction with a social group called Queers & Beers (of North Shore, MA). There will be music, dancing, drinking, drag and friends. All kinds of good stuff.”
Pride month itself will begin Sunday with a LGBTQ+ welcoming service at the First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist Church on Pleasant Street, beginning at 10:30 a.m.
Sweet Paws Rescue will also present a Pride puppy show at the RiverWalk Brewing Co. from noon to 4 p.m.
For a full list of events, visit: www.newburyportpride.com/
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.