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Article Specs
Article ID: 12157
VoxAcct: 163323
Section: festivals
Age Group: Adult
Days Up: 2,030
Times Read: 4,148
RSS Views: 46,143
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Louisville Pagan Pride Day
Author: Rev Snow Wolf
Posted: October 28th. 2007
Times Viewed: 4,148
Sponsored by: Louisville Pagan Pride Day
Location: Louisville, KY
Event Date(s): 09/27/07
Attendance: 150
Where is the Pride in Pagan Pride?
This is the story of the first (and the second) Pagan Pride Day in Louisville, Kentucky. I arrived at the first Pagan Pride Day some time in the mid-afternoon. It was a grey, cool, and windy day, as a storm would be coming in later that day. I really did not know what to expect of our very first Pagan Pride Day.
I walked across the parking lot where the first festival was held - under the broad and noisy overpass going into Indiana. As I approached, the event it looked a lot like a bazaar. People were shuffling from booth to booth, which were mostly Pagan stores from what I saw.
After I figured out that we had entered from the back of the event, I spilt up from my wife and our roommate and made my way to the sign-in booth. I, dropped off my food donation, and signed the guest book after receiving my raffle ticket.
I also introduced myself to Mike Avery, who put the whole thing together. He noticed that I was wearing a camera bag and asked me if I would take photos for the event. I happily agreed. It would be a good thing to do for the community and also, as an ulterior motive, it would be positive publicity for my coven.
I started to walk around, and look for a good starting place. I found one and pulled out my camera. I then noticed that everyone was actively looking away from me.
I thought it was just my imagination but, oh, boy! When I brought that camera up to my eye to take a picture, I saw nothing but people’s backs. Again, I ignored it for the first few minutes but then I started testing my theory out.
I hid the camera from view then quickly drew it back up, that’s when I saw a few people whirl around to avoid me. I know they were not looking at shops because I waited for people that were in the middle of the street.
That’s right. They turned to face an empty street just so they would not have their picture taken.
I decided from that point on that I would just take pictures of the vendor’s signs and the products that they brought with them. In all honesty, I just did not feel good about taking the photos at this point.
We left Pagan Pride Day shortly after I took a few photos and, afterwards, went to a local Pagan store called Nature’s Magic. I thought about that day for the next few weeks. I was so annoyed that people would come to a Pagan PRIDE Day and be afraid to have their picture taken. I ranted about this in my Pagan Podcast and then let it go.
Fast-forward one year and the second Pagan Pride Day has rolled around. I thought, well this one should be better then the last one, right? I woke up around 11 AM and then nudged my wife to wake up as well. We basically didn’t get out the door until 12:30 PM.
Luckily, before we left home, I checked the website to see if it had moved, which it had.
We got there around 1:30 PM after much trial and error in finding the event.
I immediately went to find Mike after speaking with the Pagan Student Union of Western Kentucky University. I found him at the front of the event. I had come in the back yet again.
This time I asked him if it was okay if I took pictures for the website. He told me that it would be fine to say I was taking pictures on behalf of Pagan Pride Day and I, at least, was proud of that.
However, I wasn’t the only one. I noticed a big difference. This year’s event was amazing. It took place next to the Ohio River. It was so close to the river, there was an actual stairway to the docks in the middle of the row of booths. There was seating that reminded me of a Greek Amphitheater. It was set back in the hill stretching all the way around the event.
Again, there was a straight line of booths, but this year it was much more then merchants. There were almost as many Information Booths as there were Merchant Booths this year.
There was a stage where people were performing. There was a drumming circle next to the stage where anyone with a drum was invited to come and play. Later that day the stage would play host to the most beautiful belly dancing show I have ever seen.
After that show, I took several pictures of happy people. Then, I stopped and looked around. Then I saw it...pride…pride to be a Pagan. People were laughing, smiling, and asking me to take their picture before I even asked them. I felt at home here with these people whom I have never met before. All felt like family. That is what it should be like at a Pagan Pride Day event.
So, I asked the question in the title “Where is the Pride in Pagan Pride?” The answer?
It’s right here in Louisville, Kentucky, where we are going to let it grow year after glorious year.
Footnotes:
http://louisvillepaganpride.org/
Copyright: Snow Wolf
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Rev Snow Wolf
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Website: http://www.mythicsoftware.com
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