Pride Block Party Beats The Rain

Top: Pride Block Party host Bleach (in wig and red tights) with fans and Pride volunteers. Bottom: The party in full swing.

Artists shared the street with big-haired, sparkly drag queens and sweat-soaked bike riders who cheered them on. Musicians flowed from ethereal acoustics to soul-feeding mariachi, dipping under cover when a surprise drizzle broke through. Bibliophiles dropped poetic bars and introduced fresh new reads to the city. And when the party officially moved inside, nobody seemed to miss a beat.

A rainbow-kissed, exuberant, and community-focused vibe defined New Haven Pride Saturday afternoon, as artists, vendors, performers and dozens of LGBTQ+ people flocked to the Ninth Square—and pivoted with the weather—for a now-annual block party. Despite unexpected sprinkles, last-minute road closures and a late-afternoon deluge, the festival brought out well over 400 attendees, raising roughly $40,000 for the New Haven Pride Center (NHPC).

It marked the culmination of a week that also included a gender-affirming “shopping spree,” drag queen story hour at the Mitchell Branch Library, and documentary film screening. It also underscored the Pride Center’s ability to pivot: 36 hours before the event, staff remapped the event to accommodate the Closer To Free Ride, which had also booked Crown Street in a city oversight.     

Corey Frate, grants coordinator the Leonard Litz Foundation (one of the sponsors of the block party) and fiancées Laura Boccadoro and Ashley Buhrer. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

“Even though we’re dealing with some rain, we’re having a fantastic turnout,” said Laura Boccadoro, communications coordinator and co-producer of Pride New Haven at the NHPC. “I’m just happy to see everybody here. Even though we dealt with some challenges … I’m happy people came out and it ended up being such a good time. It wasn’t what we thought we were gonna do, but it was exactly what we wanted it to be.”

“What comes after the rain is a rainbow,” she added. “We’re looking for that rainbow right now, so she’s a-coming.”

For vendors, performers and attendees alike, the rain couldn’t dampen the spirit of the day. As emcee and drag queen Bleach made her way down the street with a floral-patterned, pink dress and red tights, her hydrant-toned heels clicked the pavement, tap-tapping on the blocks of rainbow color that brighten the street. She shook out her Dolly-Parton-high wig, drawing a few appreciative smiles from attendees.

Top: Troy's dogs Sampson and Delilah. Bottom: the Wellness Village. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

Nearby, a health and wellness “village” offered everything from information on Fair Haven Community Health Care (FHCHC) to the yoga and movement studio Breathing Room. Across the tables, attendees could pick up not just swag but also free condoms, information on safe sex, HIV prevention, and gender-affirming care. Like the event itself, it came at a time when LGBTQ+ people, and particularly trans kids, are struggling with access to care in close to half of the United States. 

Organized by the Yale School of Public Health, the village “aim[ed] to bridge the gap between healthcare providers and historically underrepresented and underserved communities, including those experiencing homelessness, undocumented individuals, and LGBTQ+ populations,” the School of Public Health said in a release.

A longtime veteran of New Haven Pride—he’s been coming for decades, he said—Troy brought out his Chihuahuas, Samson and Delilah, to soak in the delight of the day. After some confusion around last year’s celebration, which was postponed due to weather and then navigated a bomb threat, he was glad to be at Saturday’s. They give him a sense of continuity: prior to his time in Connecticut, he attended Pride events in California 

“It’s more for the dogs than it is for me!” he said cheerfully.

Artist Jordan Gage of Chronically Queer Co(mmunity). Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

That excitement extended to vendors, who came with everything from brightly-patterned jewelry to new books from emerging YA authors. Surrounded with intricate, blooming pen-and-ink illustrations from Chronically Queer Co(mmunity), artist Jordan Gage lauded the Pride Center for leaning into its focus on community, from locally-based artists to a wellness tent across from Jazzy’s Cabaret.

“This is my little art dream!” they said, with a little laugh. Around them, pen-and-ink drawings drew a viewer in. One, finished in a spray of rainbow color, resembled balls of yarn or interlocking knots, so vivid that it seemed to undulate from where it hung. On another, a black-and-white composition seemed almost velvety, fern- and ivy-like from far away. If a viewer came close, they could see the hours of careful line work that had gone into it.   

Michelle Ziogas, a children's librarian at the Wilson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library, talks to attendees about the NHFPL. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

As an artist who identifies as both queer and disabled, Gage explained that their line art gives them a place to process the different intersections at which they stand. On any given day, that includes an artist working through chronic pain, a white person stepping into solidarity work, and a human who is fundamentally opposed to violence at home and abroad.

“It feels like I’m taking all of the twisted pieces of myself and while I can’t untangle them and there’s a lot of knots and that sucks, I can still make it beautiful, and I can still create something that is new,” they said.

“I am a big fan of the Pride Center and am really grateful to support and be in this space,” they added. “I love New Haven Pride because I get to see so many of my friends, and it’s good to remember that we’re all here together. Because together’s the only way we’re gonna keep going.”

Ashley Hilary of Chasing Westphalia. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

Down the street, Ashley Hilary of Chasing Westphalia echoed that beauty, celebrating her first collaboration with the New Haven Pride Center since the organization moved to its new location at 50 Orange St. After starting the business in 2019, she has grown the resin earring brand into a kind of funky and vibrant signature. Saturday, she came with dozens of pairs, chatting eagerly with passers-by as people stopped to check out her work.

“I love hanging out at Pride fairs!” she said. “It’s just so much fun and everyone is so kind and down to hang.”

Hilary’s work, which is inspired largely by music, includes fun statement pieces that  reference everything from Helluva Boss to Chappell Roan. She praised New Haven’s street setup, which put her front and center for not just Pride attendees, but Ninth Square merchants and Saturday afternoon foot traffic. 

“I cater towards a really queer audience, and it’s always really great to receive any sort of feedback from them,” she said. “It’s a constant journey of how I can participate more in the community.”

AJ: "It's all about love—we are no different than nobody else." Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

As he made his way from one vendor booth to the next, Anh Nguyen gingerly fitted as many handheld flags as he could beneath a visor and into his curly ponytail. As he walked, the gentle blue, pink and white stripes of the trans pride flag and rainbow of the LGBTQ+ Progress Pride Flag bounced with him. He praised the event, rain and all, as a dazzling celebration of community.

"Beautiful people! Beautiful colors!” said Nguyen, who goes by AJ. For him, New Haven Pride—which the city celebrates in both June and September—is where it’s at. He’s never been to a celebration anywhere else, because he doesn’t feel like he needs to.

“I love Pride because it represents loving yourself,” he said. “I'm very supportive. I have friends [in the queer community], and I'm very curious within the life. It's all about love—we are no different than nobody else."

Lauren Anderson and Alex Contreras-Montesano. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

He wasn’t the only one to feel the love. At a table for the bookspace Possible Futures, Lauren Anderson and Alex Contreras-Montesano could barely contain their excitement to be there. Saturday, they had brought copies of hot-off-the-presses YA novel Libertad—and author Bessie Flores Zaldívar—along with dozens of queer-friendly titles for every age of reader.

Some included, for instance, Cuando Amamos Cantamos, Brittney Griner and Michelle Burford’s Coming Home, and Audre Lourde’s Sister Outsider. Votive candles with James Baldwin and Marsha P. Johnson, both smiling, looked out from the makeshift shelves. For Anderson, every Pride feels a little like a full-circle moment—the bookspace grew out of a Ninth Square Pride block party in 2019.

“It reminds me of the markets in Mexico, actually,” Contreras-Montesano said. “It’s a way of gathering that is very open to many different people.”

“And I always feel like it feels a little bit like a reunion,” Anderson added, lauding the city’s LGBTQ+ community. “Some of the people who are here are not the people I get to see on the regular, but I know I can regularly see them at Pride.” Laughter erupted a few feet away. “You can hear people laughing! I just feel like it’s the best thing about being in a small city. And that part feels really special.”

Bustos and Hernandez. Linda-Cristal Young Photos.

That was true for friends Carmelo Hernandez and Valentina Bustos, both members of the LGBTQ+ community who came to recognize other members of the queer community. A lifelong New Havener, Hernandez came out as bisexual—a secret he’d been holding since middle school—four years ago. “Ever since then, I felt so much better,” he said. Pride is one of the ways he expresses his full self.

“It’s close to home, and it makes me fall in love with the city even more,” Hernandez said.

Bustos, who assists with the “Strands for Trans” gender-affirming hair care program at the Barberie Salon on Orange Street, added that she sees Pride as not just a day-long festival or national month, but a year-long and lifelong commitment. “Pride is all the time,” she said.

Top: Bleach and Boccadoro. Bottom: Musician Amy Love performing inside the Center after the sky opened up outside. 

Back at the Center, Bleach (“just like the cleaner,” she said matter-of-factly to anyone who second-guessed her name) took a moment to embrace Boccadoro, whose planning skills now include pivoting with the weather and learning to reroute a festival for a bike race.

As this year’s host, she was both thrilled to be at the celebration and proud to support the Center as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Around her, performances unfolded alongside free haircuts and several more vendor booths.

“New Haven Pride is letting us—the New Haven people—know that you belong, you matter, and there is space for you here,” she said. “Sometimes I feel like there’s no space for us. Sometimes we feel that everything is cisgender-centered. And it’s exciting to see that we took up not just one street, but two of them. [We are] exemplifying, showing how much support and resources are available not only for the queer community, but for the community.”

As a former Spanish teacher turned full-time drag queen, she added that she’s excited about the way that Pride builds community for everyone, including allies. Over several years, she’s watched it evolve into a day that foregrounds the depth and diversity of New Haven’s LGBTQ+ community. Even as she hosted, she urged prospective and future attendees to resist “that inner saboteur” and come to Pride as an expression of self- and community-love.

“A lot of people say, ‘Oh! Why don’t the straights have a month?’” she continued. “And I go, ‘baby, you can come to Pride. It’s for everybody.’ Pride is to celebrate, to unify, and to celebrate diversity. We all look different, we all present differently, but we all matter the same.”

As he buzzed around the Center, Executive Director Juancarlos Soto beamed. While the day had not been without its unexpected hurdles—including vendors who packed up early to avoid the rain, and performances that were postponed—it had been a recognition of community nonetheless. When it ended in music and dancing, it just felt right. 

“It was amazing!” he said. “We had a couple of, like, bumps in the road, but everything fell into place. I think, you know, we just had a good time, we were able to get people in the Center, celebrating, dancing, the rain didn't scare off a lot of people 

Lucy Gellman contributed reporting. For more from this year’s celebration of New Haven Pride, read articles here, here, and here or check out an interview with New Haven Pride Center Communications Coordinator Laura Boccadoro and Executive Director Juancarlos Soto on WNHH-LP Community Radio.