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Pinellas Park Inaugural Pride Festival
Yesterday, we attended the first-ever Pride Festival held at the Pinellas Art Village in Pinellas Park, FL, and we were pleasantly surprised by what our little town accomplished!
We attended the last Saturday of the month art walks and block parties held at 5663 Park Blvd N and enjoyed ourselves, so this might be as much (or more) fun, and we were right!
The Event Details
Latin Pop Artist John Gascot organized Pinellas Park’s first gay pride festival, where he established his studio in the Pinellas Art Village. He’s managed several of the Saturday Block pARTies but decided a Free Pride Festival in the heart of Pinellas County might attract a new group of people who otherwise might not discover this up-and-coming art district.
Over 60+ vendors, performers, artists, food trucks, and locals gathered from 2-10 pm for the most colorful celebration yet! Vendors pulled out all the stops, creating unique items promoting love, acceptance, creativity, and community. It was a beautiful sight.
The weather held out at least while we were there, and the crowds were small and manageable, just the way we liked it. We walked from home, but there was plenty of parking and an excellent police and medic presence. Overall, The Pinellas Art Village pulled off another lovely event promoting Pride to the fullest.
Say No to Animal Exploitation at Events
It was almost perfect, however… As a former volunteer and staff member at Big Cat Rescue, I can’t ignore this one detail. A huge pet peeve for us is animal exploitation. The ONLY thing that was a massive letdown to us was that they allowed two animal encounter vendors to set up next to reputable organizations such as The South Eastern Guide Dogs and Pinellas County Animal Shelter.
Promoting Selfies with Sloths, Kissing a gator, and wild animals as pets or photo props is completely unacceptable at a festival meant to protect, raise awareness, and uphold the rights of the LGBTQ community. Parading around skunks for people to pet or alligators with their mouths taped shut directly across from live music and large crowds is cruel and ultimately sends the wrong message that these animals want to be touched.
Wild animals should never be promoted as pets or be made to look like pets. That causes people, especially kids, to think they can own or tame wild animals. These situations are incredibly stressful and scary for animals that can’t speak for themselves. Reputable organizations do not buy, sell, breed, touch, or allow public contact with wild animals.
I genuinely hope that if this event becomes an annual event, they will choose more responsible vendors in the future that promote rescue and not animal exploitation. We’ve got to do better for the animals. The only wild animals that should have been at this event were all of us party animals celebrating pride 🌈
Let’s do even better next year!!! #prideatthevillage #pinellaspark