The eighth annual Pajaro Valley Pride (PVP) Celebration unfolded in Watsonville Sunday with a day of performances, drag story time, booths, interactive spaces, food, arts and crafts and information tables from organizations from around the county.
Staged at the YWCA on East Beach Street, the four-hour event had a theme of “Don’t Be a Drag, Just Be a Queen.”
The event kicked off with a parade along East Beach Street to Blackburn Street, Riverside Drive, Lincoln Street and then back to the YWCA. Several hundred people waved banners and signs, rainbow flags or toted large signs from various organizations while others sported rainbow umbrellas.
“We’re here in the spirit of inclusiveness,” said Jenny Russell of Santa Cruz County Office of Education. “We’re holding up the rainbow flag in celebration.”
Bob Gordon was on hand at an information table for LGBT Tobacco Education.
“I helped my own mother quit smoking when I was 6 years old,” he said. “Now I work full time to try to change what a Pride event is, to work with policies that deal with people not smoking at these events, among other things. It’s really important that everyone here is breathing clean air and that we’re protecting our environment at the same time. This is about lifting up our community.”
In the garden/patio area of the YWCA, the crowd heard a number of talks and watched performances into the afternoon.
PVP aims to support South Santa Cruz County’s LGBTQ+ community, and has been holding Pride events in Watsonville since 2016. A statement on its website states: “We’ve chosen to honor and uplift our drag community in a time when they are constantly being attacked. Our long-term goal is to help transform the city of Watsonville and the South County area into a community that accepts and celebrates all forms of diversity.”
“The community of alternative gender identity in the Monterey Bay Area and throughout the United States needs to be seen and heard, especially now with all these political attacks on our community,” Glen Barlow of Salinas said. “Some politicians in Congress are even spouting bigoted hatred. That’s why we’re here; we’re strong, we’re together and we’re a part of the community.”
