The streets of downtown Bangor were filled with more than 2,500 people for the city’s annual Pride Parade and Festival on Saturday.
Many attendees wore rainbow clothes or wrapped Pride flags around them as they paraded down Main Street, celebrating diversity and Maine’s LGBTQ+ community.
Multiple people in the crowd said the parade and festival have become a yearly fixture.
Nick Pelletier and Sarah Thomas, both Bangor residents, said they weren’t surprised by how large the crowd was despite the day’s on-and-off rain, because of how much residents care about showing their pride.
This year had an extra meaning because of the 10-year anniversary of ruling that legalized same-sex marriage across America, multiple attendees said.
Pelletier said the excitement at the parade shows just a fraction of how his mothers felt when they got married a few years ago.
The support shown in Bangor should be able to keep same-sex marriage legalized for “at least the next 10 years” despite lawmakers across the country attempting to undermine the ruling, Pelletier said.
Also playing a role is President Donald Trump’s war with Maine, specifically targeting transgender rights, with no clear resolution in sight.
Bangor remains a place where people can organize and find their community despite pressure from national politics, Thomas said. But even in a welcoming place, Thomas and Pelletier said it’s not always easy for supporters.
“Being yourself is probably the most radical thing you could be right now,” Pelletier said.
The festival drew attendees from across the state. One supporter, Paul Garelli, drove from Knox to join the festivities.
Garelli, 69, said he drives to Bangor every year to join his friends in the celebration, but this year means more to him because of the pressures put on same-sex marriage.
“It’s in danger now because of the current administration,” he said.
Influences from the White House didn’t discourage him from showing his pride. He said the crowd for the parade and the previous “No Kings” protest should send a message to the current administration about how Americans feel about the state of the country.
No matter what the administration does within the next year, Garelli said he’ll be taking the hour drive up to Bangor for the next Pride parade.
Carmilla Velour, one of the leads of Bangor Pride, the organization that puts on the events throughout June, said many people came out to show that pride isn’t going anywhere.
Sponsors and supporters helped the organization this year as much as they have in past years and allowed the festivities to be as large as they have ever been, Velour said.
“Given everything that’s happening for the queer community, for the trans community, we want to make sure that there’s no peeling back, there’s no sign of us shrinking, there’s only signs of us growing,” Velour said.
