This year marks the 7th Berkshire Pride annual festival, which will be held at The Common on North Street in downtown Pittsfield this Saturday.
“We do have a theme, and it's ‘Every Day is Pride.’ And really, it's to speak to the ongoing efforts of our organization in creating and maintaining safe spaces all year long for our LGBTQ+ community members and allies, and really just making our community, our county, our Berkshire County a more inclusive place for everyone," said Berkshire Pride Vice President Michael Taylor. “We have close to 150 vendors this year. We have more food vendors than we than we've ever had. Starting at 12 noon on the main stage, we have all of our entertainment. That's going to run 12 to 4, and that is going to include drag kings and queens. We have Erin Furey, who was an American Idol finalist performing we have other musicians, we have a performance from Barrington stage company, you name it, we've got it.”
The event also marks the return of the Berkshire Pride parade after its successful debut last year.
“There was a lot of excitement, and I think there's even more excitement built up this year," said Taylor. "Again, we went in last year not fully knowing what this was going to look like for us for a parade. I mean, the area is used to seeing parades like the Fourth of July parade, right? So, we didn't really know what we were up against. But I mean, we had so many community organizations, agencies, school students just come. There was an outpouring of support, and they showed up they walked, I think it just really spoke to how this community can come together and just exactly what this community is looking for and wanting a day where people can come out and be their authentic selves and just have a really great day and feel safe.”
Recently, Berkshire Pride took the steps to officially register as a nonprofit organization. Taylor says the group is looking to expand its mission beyond Pride Month festivities.
“For example, we are offering a LGBTQ+ certification that individuals can register for, and there are classes that are taught by one of our other board members, Emma Lenski, who is a licensed mental health clinician, and there's three different courses at this time that include intro to LGBTQ+ terminology, pronouns and why they matter, and then mental health and suicide," Taylor told WAMC. "And so, this is just speaking to where we're looking to go as an organization and being a resource for the community and coming from a place of education, and inclusivity.”
Taylor says that while Berkshire County has largely embraced Pride, it’s a luxury for a community often in the crosshairs of repression across the country — even close to home.
“In Central Mass, in North Brookfield, there was a situation where the board of selectmen in that town pulled a permit for the Pride organization that was out there for them to have their annual Pride event because they had found that there was going to be drag performing at that event, so they pulled their permanent," he said. "So, it is it is creeping in. So, it's definitely something that can't ignore.”
One of the groups tabling at Berkshire Pride is North Adams Pride. Like Berkshire Pride, the group about 40 miles north of Pittsfield isn’t focused on June alone.
“One thing that we've already started, Josh, here in North Adams, is to help mentor and support LGBTQIA+ youth through participation at the Roots Teen Center here in North Adams," said Andrew Fitch, one of the group’s organizers. “We have a LGBTQIA+ drop-in, it's called, every Tuesday from 4 to 6 where we are youth and or their allies, by the way, it's really open to any youth up to age 19, to drop in and hang out with us. We've basically been involving them in projects that are involved with our June 23rd Pride celebration in North Adams.”
Before heading down to Pittsfield Saturday, North Adams Pride will make a colorful contribution to the city’s First Friday event downtown the night before.
“Mayor [Jennifer] Macksey of North Adams has approved Eagle Street to be closed to car traffic, and we're going to have a bunch of activities in the street, and North Adams Pride’s participation in that is to paint a rainbow mural right on the street," said Fitch. "This was a project that got started a few months ago, and after a couple of different presentations at our city's public arts commission, we were approved, our specific design was approved. It's a series of Massachusetts native wildflowers arranged in order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, right on the street.”
On the same night, the nearby Adams Theater will hold the Majesty of the Berkshires 2023 Pride Pageant. In Pittsfield, a Downtown Pittsfield Pride Art Walk featuring local LGBTQIA+ artists kicks off at 5 p.m.
The main North Adams Pride celebration on the 23rdwill take place on the campus of art museum MASS MoCA.
“We're going to have different performers, we're going to have live music, we're going to have family time, and kid time and activities, tabling activities, face painting, some kind of dance lessons for people as well,” Fitch told WAMC.
Conversations about some of the most complicated issues surrounding the community come before music and dance takes over the event after dark.
“We didn't want to just have a party, because Pride isn't just about partying," said Fitch. "Pride started as a protest, and it is still very much and really needs to be still a protest.”
Fitch says topics will range from how to make North Adams more inclusive to anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation being passed around the country.
“We want to acknowledge the trouble that we're in," he told WAMC. "We want to make everyone aware of that. We want to get them involved and trying to help solve for that. But then it's also important that we just celebrate our queerness and dance the heck out of that night together.”
