“The only way to be emotionally in a place is not to be there physically.”
So muses Jorge Luis Borges in a recorded conversation for Radio Municipal in 1985. After considering a list of literary sons who’ve set novels in their homelands as expats, he speculates that we can only access the true spirit of a place through our memories.
Having spent a year living (mostly) within our minds, aimlessly scrolling through old photos, dreaming about the places we’d like to return to, might we agree? Had you ever felt as emotionally connected to a movie theater as you did from your couch, trapped in streaming purgatory?
For the better part of a decade, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has worked in concert with St. Pete Pride on production and distribution of its event guide, and despite a pandemic that forced an all-out cancellation of Pride last year, CL and St. Pete Pride teamed up again in 2021 for a standalone guide on stands through the month of June. This piece by Carey Mears is pulled from that guide.
Pride, I think, is evidence to the contrary. Occupying a physical space filled with LGBTQ+ people is precisely what allows an LGTBQ+ person to feel the fullness of their emotions – just ask any LGBTQ+ person what their first Pride ex- perience was like. Sure, finding community on the internet can be sustaining in the same way that an afternoon protein bar can carry you to dinner (and, indeed, it’s the only option that many people have for a variety of reasons), but for most in the LGBTQ+ community, there is no substitute for the wave of relief, excitement, and joy that crests and falls upon their turning the corner and catching the first sights and sounds of Pride.
For the first time in two years, Pride returns to the city and brings with it significant structural change. June’s 2021 Pride season will take the form of PrideFest, an impressive month-long celebration combining smaller, partnered events with large-scale signature events happening each weekend. Prepare to occupy LGTBQ+ spaces physically and emotionally as often as your stamina and schedule allow.
Veteran Pridegoers may feel an initial twinge of disappointment upon learning that the parade is not slated for June. (Discussions about when and how to reintroduce the parade are ongoing.) However, there are two things worth considering on this front: first, that we are not yet out of the woods, and special COVID-19 regulations—including limits on crowd size—must be met throughout June (advance registration is required to attend any of the PrideFest events, for example); second, that the PrideFest concept may be uniquely suited to reintroduce Pride in the wake of a pandemic and two-year hiatus.
A prototypical Pride it is not. So, what is it about PrideFest that befits this long-awaited homecoming?
1. Lasts the entire month of June.
Okay, this one is perhaps the most obvious, but it doesn’t make the prospect of having a month’s worth of Pride activities any less exciting.
How better to end a Pride drought than with four consecutive Pride weeks? This year, set a goal of attending a couple of events each week. Meet new people and make plans to meet up throughout the month. Take the time to meaningfully engage with the community simply because there’s ample time to do it, and see where it takes you.
Regardless of how you design your PrideFest experience, you’ll get to enjoy a sense of renewed energy pervading St. Pete all month long as it welcomes back a tradition that is central to its identity. We are emerging from a prolonged period of collective grief, and meeting this moment with a prolonged period of celebration seems a fitting way to transition into what comes next for us and for our city.
2. Choose your own adventure.
In the midst of this transition, people are reentering the world at staggered, individual rates. Masks and social distancing will be required throughout PrideFest, but a person’s ability to participate may vary by event or evolve throughout the month.
Having a diverse and lengthy calendar of activities will allow you to create a personalized Pride agenda based on your comfort level or ability to socialize in addition to your interests and schedule. You need not worry about missing one of the signature events, thereby postponing your celebration another year.
Inclusion is a core principle of Pride, and PrideFest’s structure seems to minimize barriers to entry by providing a number of ways to safely participate.
3. Try new things.
How many times have you flipped through an issue of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, spotted an upcoming event that interested you, and allowed yourself to forget about it or talked yourself out of going? PrideFest is not only an opportunity to return to something we’ve been without; it can be a time to begin shaping the post-pandemic versions of ourselves.
Make June the month that you try new things for the sake of trying them. Partnered events held during the week may occur outside of PrideFest on a routine basis. Let PrideFest be your excuse to attend for the first time, knowing that others will be doing the same. Over the weekends, there will be new venues to see and reimagined ways to gather and experience Pride during the signature events.
Pride season, pandemic or not, is about building community and knowing that you belong no matter who you are or where you go. Take advantage. Go forth.
4. Be intentional.
PrideFest is many things: a roadmap, a reunion, a party. It can also be a blank canvas, a time to take your personal reflections from the pandemic and begin putting them into practice.
Are there things you said you wanted to make more time for, to explore, to get involved with? Did you want to spend more time outdoors, get better about making plans with people you haven’t seen in a while, attend more concerts and art exhibits? Whatever the case, PrideFest—with its wide-ranging list of offerings—seems a great place to start.
This June, take the things that you learned were most important to you during the pandemic, and find opportunities to live them out during PrideFest. There has always been something inspiring and affirming about how loudly the City of St. Pete celebrates diversity relative to its size. PrideFest’s events may host fewer attendees, but following a year of loss, isolation, and a recent slew of anti-trans legislation in this state and others, there’s good reason to believe that this year’s Pride will reach farther and be felt more deeply than in years preceding it.
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This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2021.