At least 275,000 people were projected to attend the 18th annual St Pete Pride in June last year, further cementing its legacy as Florida’s largest LGBTQ celebration. Its 2019 outing welcomed more than 265,000 to St. Petersburg, honoring the authenticity of all who live, work and play in and around the Sunshine City.
Those plans changed May 21, 2020, when organizers announced that large, in-person festivities wouldn’t return until 2021. The decision was made in response to the ongoing pandemic in an effort to protect attendees.
“After careful consideration and thorough exploration of alternatives with the City of St Petersburg, the board of St Pete Pride has made the difficult decision to cancel,” officials shared at the time. “The initial hope was to postpone these events – however, the level of uncertainty and lack of clear guidance from experts prompted the decision to cancel as the board deemed the health and safety of our community, both near and far, most important.”
The cancellation impacted more than the area’s LGBTQ residents and visitors. In 2019, St Pete Pride had an economic impact of $67.2 million on the local economy, benefiting the city’s many industries in a variety of ways.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, a staunch LGBTQ ally who has supported St Pete Pride since its inception, welcomed the difficult decision. He explained that “our shared focus and most important job is public safety.”
“St Pete Pride is one of the best and biggest LGBTQ events in the nation and will certainly outlast any challenges that come its way,” Kriseman said. “Working with St Pete Pride and other organizations and individuals in our community, we will find ways to celebrate this year’s Pride Month safely and collectively.”
LGBTQ advocates and allies did exactly that. Kriseman, representatives from St Pete Pride and other community leaders kicked off Pride Month 2020 with a small, socially distanced gathering at St. Petersburg City Hall. They raised the Pride flag to look toward brighter days on June 1.
Finding safe ways to connect became St Pete Pride’s mandate throughout the year, which was mostly spent apart from the community. On June 26, 2020, the date its 18th annual celebration would have taken place, the organization announced a fundraiser to install and maintain an LGBTQ-focused street mural in the heart of its birthplace, St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District.
The effort exceeded its fundraising goal of $7,000 within two weeks, allowing LGBTQ activists and artists to complete the Progressive Pride street mural July 29, 2020. The design features the 11 colors found on the Progress Pride Flag, which expands on the traditional Pride flag’s red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet to include black, brown, white, pink and light blue.
The additional colors represent the more marginalized members of the LGBTQ community, people of color and those who are transgender. St Pete Pride subsequently highlighted its dedication to elevating these voices in November, partnering with the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival to virtually hold the inaugural Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival.
The venture was co-founded by St Pete Pride President Nathan Bruemmer, who assumed the nonprofit’s lead role just prior. The LGBTQ advocate had served on its board for nearly five years at the time, most recently as vice president.
“There’s a really unique energy and vibe that this organization creates as a partner with this city,” Bruemmer reflected last October. “It’s tough coming into leadership during such a challenging time because there are a lot of unknowns, but I’m confident that we can get back to our roots.”
HEADING HOME
A return to form is exactly what St Pete Pride has worked toward in 2021, beginning with its first in-person event of the year. The nonprofit held Taste of Pride March 12-14 in the Grand Central District, returning to its birthplace to highlight the area’s service industry.
While the event has traditionally been a fundraiser for St Pete Pride, it was reimagined this year to benefit local restaurants and bars impacted by COVID-19 closures. Bruemmer called it a chance “to support the folks that support us,” noting that organizers saw it as “a small way for us to give back and accomplish our mission.”
It’s that mission – to promote unity, visibility and a positive image of and among all LGBTQ Floridians – that St Pete Pride is centering. The organization adopted a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement earlier this year to stress their commitment to each.
“St Pete Pride was created out of a desire to ensure a safe space for all people of the LGBTQIA+ community of Tampa Bay to celebrate unity and the many things that make us similar,” it reads. “As we move forward into a bright new future, we do so purposefully and with intention to not just embrace those similarities but welcome, celebrate and promote respect for the many intersections of the human experience.
“We value and respect diversity in its many forms: race, ethnicity, ability, class, faith, age, gender identity, sexual orientation and experience,” it continues. “We honor the visible and invisible qualities that make each of us who we are. We center Black, Brown and Trans voices that so often go unheard because we know Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are the ultimate acts of PRIDE.”
To help guide St Pete Pride into its 19th season, Bruemmer was joined by board newcomers Tiffany Freisberg, who filled his vacated position of vice president and Molly Robison, St Pete Pride’s secretary. Rounding out its board are two of the organization’s veterans – Stanley Solomons, who serves as treasurer and fellow LGBTQ activist Susan McGrath.
Freisberg, who is a wife and mother of three, moved to St. Petersburg from Jupiter, Florida in June 2019. She joined the board in January.
“Jupiter is not as progressive as St. Pete, and our focus there was to make our girls feel like our family was no different than anyone else’s,” she explains. “We happened to move to St. Pete during Pride and our girls were blown away by all of the rainbow flags everywhere.”
When their children asked what they represented, Freisberg says “we realized we’d made a major misstep as parents – we’d been so determined to make them feel ‘normal’ that we’d failed to educate them about a core part of who we are as a family.” She and her wife committed then and there to taking on an active role in St. Petersburg’s LGBTQ community.
“I reached out to Pride as a volunteer,” she explains. “Then I met Nathan … the rest is history.”
As for Robison, she joined the board in December 2020 after serving on St Pete Pride’s production team in 2019. Outside of her work with the organization, she also serves as the special events coordinator for Empath Partners in Care.
“Joining the board allowed me to be part of the team guiding Pride through the COVID craziness,” she explains. “Events in COVID require creative, outside the box thinking and I’m excited for Pride 2021!”
REIMAGINED RETURN
After months of speculation, St Pete Pride confirmed in April that it would return with in-person festivities this year. In lieu of its traditional parade and festival, however, it will present COVID-conscious events throughout June.
That will take shape in the form of PrideFest, four weeks of signature events flanked by unofficial celebrations. Each are designed to safely reunite the LGBTQ community and its allies after more than a year apart.
“St Pete Pride has worked diligently to design a creative and safe Pride with a twist for June of 2021,” the organization first announced. “2021’s Pride will stretch throughout the month of June and feature four themed weeks with a signature, albeit scaled down event each weekend and community events presented by partners.”
Bruemmer first detailed PrideFest during a press conference at St. Petersburg’s Vinoy Park April 12. He was joined by the mayor as well as event sponsors and supporters.
“This year in hosting St Pete PrideFest we were challenged by hosting over 265,000 people over just a number of days,” Bruemmer said. “We met with the city over many, many months about how we could ensure the health and safety and wellbeing of our community but also honor our mission.”
“We are doing that by celebrating all month long through St Pete PrideFest, where we will enjoy a different theme each week and anchor with a flagship event each Saturday at different locations, showcasing the beautiful parts of our city,” he continued. “We are encouraging hundreds of other nonprofit organizations and cultural institutions to join us and host their own events all month long and honor those needs to tell the story about our community beyond parades and parties.”
Kriseman addressed the crowd next. “In St. Pete, our vision statement is being a city of opportunity where the sun shines on all who come to live, work and play, and we take that very seriously,” he began. “The LGBTQ community is an important part of who St. Petersburg is and why we love living in this city so much.”
The mayor subsequently thanked the St Pete Pride board for its work, reflecting on how the celebration has grown in its nearly two decades.
“Pride has become one of the biggest events that we host in the city and certainly from a parade standpoint … it’s the largest in the state of Florida,” he said. “But celebrating Pride is more than just a parade and it’s more than just the events, it’s what it represents and how it defines us as a community.”
Kriseman noted that as the pandemic continues to impact Tampa Bay and beyond, finding a way to celebrate Pride safely became even more important. He added that the city wants “to encourage people to participate in the events – and you can do so safely.”
SAFETY FIRST
After receiving approval from government officials to move forward, PrideFest will operate under the safety guidelines detailed in St. Petersburg’s “Race to Safe” initiative. The city has long been focused on reducing Pinellas County’s COVID-19 positivity rate to become Florida’s “most COVID-safe community.”
They’ve done so by encouraging residents and visitors to adhere to all precautions set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to get tested for COVID and to receive their vaccination. Officials have tracked the daily and two-week average positivity rates of Pinellas to compare it to nine of the state’s most heavily populated counterparts.
As of May 17, these efforts have paid off. Pinellas County’s two-week average ranks first, ahead of Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Date, Duval, Orange, Brevard, Polk, Hillsborough and Lee counties with an average of 3.53%.
In accordance with the initiative, CDC-approved masks and facial coverings will be required to be worn to all official events. The gatherings will all take place outside and visitors without masks will be provided one upon entry.
To enforce capacity regulations, official events will also be ticketed. Ticket sales launched May 1 with attendance capped at 5,000 attendees per gathering, though that number is subject to change.
“One of the restrictions we have to abide by in order to have an event is that we have to register people to control crowd size and ensure everyone agrees to a COVID liability waiver,” Freisberg explains. “How do you do that without tickets? You could make the tickets free, but the ticketing platform itself costs money. How do you stop someone from ‘claiming’ 100 tickets they don’t end up using, which stops other people who genuinely want to attend from coming?”
The board landed on a $5 per fee for that reason, funds which will also help other nonprofits in the Tampa Bay community. “We’re dividing our ticket sales between operational costs for the events themselves and benefitting eight local nonprofit partners,” Freisberg explains.
Beneficiaries include Reach St. Pete, which works to prevent and eliminate homelessness; EmpowHERment, which seeks to empower all women by fostering their skills for self-sufficiency; The Well, a wellness collective catering to people of color and Ready for Life, which provides resources for former foster care youth.
Also benefiting are Community Tampa Bay, which cultivates leaders through cross-cultural interaction; the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum, which preserves and presents African American history; the St. Petersburg Free Clinic, which provides food, shelter and health care and the St. Pete Youth Farm, which provides food and develops leaders.
“We are covering the administrative cost of ticketing events with thousands of people, and the remainder is being donated to these amazing local nonprofit organizations whose missions are aligned with St Pete Pride and the themes of the weeks for PrideFest 2021,” Bruemmer says. “So when our community comes out to events this year, we will celebrate and give back together.”
WEEKS ONE & TWO
Outdoor Adventure Week kicks off PrideFest and Pride Month alike, beginning with a familiar event at St. Pete City Hall. As they have in years prior, St Pete Pride and city officials will welcome supporters to raise the Pride flag.
The PrideFest Kickoff Reception will follow June 3 at Sirata Beach Resort before the month’s first signature event, Pride OUTside, begins June 5.
“Our first PrideFest Saturday kicks-off with a waterfront festival along the glistening Tampa Bay,” St Pete Pride shares. “Anchored in Vinoy Park, join us for live music, local vendors and interactive experiences. Participate in a yoga class or sit back and enjoy a variety of roaming entertainers! Pride OUTside celebrates our LGBTQ+ community while showcasing St. Pete’s beautiful natural surroundings.”
It will also feature St Pete Pride’s first marathon. On the morning of June 5, Pride Run St Pete will feature a timed 5K, a timed Youth 5K, a virtual 5K and an untimed, 100-yard Diva Dash for those wearing their heels and “best diva attire.”
Pre-registration is required and prices vary. The timed 5K is $40 until May 29 and after that until June 5; the youth 5K and Diva Dash are $15 and the virtual 5K is $30. When registering for the timed 5K, the Diva Dash is included at no additional cost.
The 5K course is described as “a fast street course along St. Petersburg’s Bayshore that is out and back with minimal elevation changes of approximately 75 feet.” It is scheduled to begin from the 5th Ave. NE west of Bayshore Dr. NE and end along 5th Ave. NE across downtown. The course may vary on race day.
Participants will have 1.5 hours to finish the track, which organizers note is ideal for besting a personal record, having fun or a leisurely run or walk. Pets are not permitted but sports strollers, running chairs, handcycles, sports wheelchairs, walkers and canes are allowed on the course. Finisher medals and T-shirts will be available at the race.
“This week and this event is about focusing on the mind, body, and spirit as an LGBTQ+ community – especially as we recognize the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on us individually and collectively,” Bruemmer describes the new partnership.
“At its core, Pride’s history is our fight for equity,” he continues. “Who we are as LGBTQ people in sports has had a complicated narrative of inequality. The coming out stories of professional athletes continue to inspire us and we must also continue the fight for the rights of transgender children to play sports.”
Family Week will follow, beginning June 7. It will culminate with We Are Family at the St. Pete Pier and North and South Straub Parks.
“Join us for a gathering of LGBTQ+ families and allies on the beautiful downtown St. Pete waterfront in North and South Straub Parks and The St Pete Pier,” it’s officially described. “Enjoy family focused vendors, entertainment and activities in this first-of-its-kind Pride event as we celebrate the family culture of St. Pete and beyond.”
WEEKS THREE & FOUR
Arts & Music Week will kick off the second half of PrideFest’s official gatherings. Its signature event will be Arts + Qulture on June 19 and be held at The Factory in St. Petersburg’s Warehouse Arts District.
Billed as the “new creative arts destination in South St. Petersburg,” the 8-acre, mixed-use space is located 2622 Fairfield Ave. S. St Pete Pride promises attendees will be able to “soak in music, art and dance around every corner.”
“From main stage performances to wandering musicians and dancers, St Pete Pride will welcome a range of talent to offer visitors an immersive, memorable experience,” officials advise. The program will also honor Black, Queer culture to mark Juneteenth, which celebrates the emancipation of those who were enslaved in the U.S.
Taste of PrideFest Week will begin after that and include the PrideFest 2021 Stonewall Reception on June 25. The annual reception for sponsors, VIPs and supporters will be held at The James Museum for the first time, welcoming supporters to an outdoor gathering in Downtown St. Petersburg.
The week’s signature event will then be held June 26, a Pride picnic on June 26 at North and South Straub Parks. Guests will enjoy food trucks, festival vendors and a fireworks display at dusk.
“PrideFest’s final event will invite visitors to spend an evening along the beautiful bayside waterfront, enjoying picnics, musical performances and a fireworks display that will cap off PrideFest in dramatic fashion,” St Pete Pride advises. Restaurants and breweries throughout the area will also be participating in the festivities with $5 specials all week.
“PrideFest was born first and foremost out of necessity, but the gift of that was a clean slate – a reason to reimagine what Pride is and what it looks like,” Freisberg says. “We decided that neither St. Pete nor Pride are just one thing, so we want to try and celebrate as much of it as possible.
“St. Pete has beautiful outdoor spaces, we have world-class art and music, we’re a city that’s heavenly for kids and we have incredible local dining options,” she continues. “The LGBTQ community is made up of a wide array of people. Some of us are parents. Some are runners. Some love art and music. We tried to conceptualize enough variety so that it felt like there was something for everyone.”
“This year, it feels a bit like coming out of hibernation,” Robison adds. “We’ve all been in this weird COVID lifestyle and now that we can see light at the end of the tunnel, Pride is the perfect reason to come out, shake off the past year, celebrate each other, our community, our friendships and our beautiful city.
“I love that locals and visitors can choose to join us for one of the signature events or all of them and find lots of other activities to fill their Pride month,” she continues. “There will be something for everyone … all month long!”
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE (EVERYWHERE)
Unofficial events will be held throughout Tampa Bay before, during and after PrideFest’s official festivities, inspired by St Pete Pride’s mission to unite the LGBTQ community.
Among the largest concentrations are those taking place in the Grand Central District. The area is home to more than 475 LGBTQ-inclusive bars, merchants and restaurants, including LGBTQ fan favorites like Cocktail, Dog Bar, GayStPete House, Mixers at OKW, Punky’s Bar and Grill and more.
“With shows, music, sidewalk markets, parties and a $500 cash prize just to name a few – Grand Central, the birthplace of Pride – will once again be a must visit destination this Pride season,” the district advises. “Plan to stop by as our small businesses and neighborhoods join forces to entertain and welcome all.”
Or as David Foote summarizes, “there’s no place like home.” As the executive director of the nonprofit Grand Central District Association, he oversees the membership organization and works to ensure the district flourishes.
“There’s not a large, single event this year,” he notes. “Right now we’re in an era that prompts a lot of change and a lot of open thinking, which opened up a chance for us to make sure that people were still coming to Grand Central in June.”
That’s why Foote launched Pride in Grand Central, highlighting LGBTQ-focused events running throughout June with a branding initiative. “I see it as a part of Pride as a whole,” he says, noting that he and Bruemmer were in constant communication about St Pete Pride’s plans.
As an additional incentive to patronize the area, Pride in Grand Central will also offer scratch offs for Pridegoers June 20-27.
It will give them the chance to win prizes from district businesses or $500 cash. Participants will scratch off a unique code to be entered at PrizeHub.net/PRIDE, with winners notified via email June 28.
“We’re doing something because we should be doing something,” Foote says. “Our businesses want to do something. We’re going to have a good time and that’s what this is about, the people. Hopefully next year we’ll be back to one big party.”
In the interim, LGBTQ advocates and allies are working to bring the community together in other ways, some outside of St. Petersburg. LGBTQ advocate John Gascot will hold Pride at the Village in Pinellas Park on June 26 “to fill the voids felt by the cancellation of St. Pete Pride’s parade and festival.”
More than 50 vendors are expected to attend the free, eight-hour event. Gascot, a celebrated artist who has sold his work during St Pete Pride for years, says a number of Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ-owned and friendly businesses and organizations are feeling the loss of traditional events like St Pete Pride’s street festival.
Even so, he explains “it’s not just about the business. It’s about the community sharing something uplifting.”
Tampa Bay entertainer Jaeda Fuentes, who was honored during Miss St Pete Pride 2021 this year for her 10-year mark of taking home the crown herself, will host the gathering’s show. Gascot says visitor safety will be of the utmost importance and notes that city officials support his efforts.
“We’re pouring all of our heart and effort into this,” Gascot says. “We will have Pride in Pinellas!”
Bruemmer says that St Pete Pride is thrilled to see the participation from so many members of the community. “We knew we couldn’t safely have 200,000+ people in downtown or 65,000+ people in Grand Central this year,” he says. “When designing PrideFest 2021 and developing these four themes we hoped to encourage events to develop in different neighborhoods and business districts.
“We are inspired to see our whole community creating dozens and dozens of different events all over our city,” Bruemmer concludes. “Beyond June, we hope our community is inspired to celebrate Pride every day!”
St Pete PrideFest will be held throughout June, with all safety precautions and event details subject to change. To purchase tickets to official events and for the latest details about PrideFest, visit StPetePride.org. Read the organization’s full commitment to safety at StPetePride.org/COVID. For more information about Pride in Grand Central or Pride at the Village, visit PrideInGrandCentral.com and PinellasArtsVillage.com.
