In Carroll County, a new committee has been busy setting up Taneytown Pride, now in its second year.

“LGBTQ people are around in every city, and we deserve a space where we feel safe and supported,” said Dorian Campbell-Temple, who’s helping organize the June 22 celebration.

Of the roughly two dozen local businesses the Pride team approached, all have said, “‘Oh yeah, I was planning to stop by.’… In terms of people in real life, the response has been overwhelmingly positive,” Campbell-Temple said.

It’s a sign of how commonplace Pride events have become in small towns and suburbs within the past decade. Once the province of big cities, events celebrating LGBTQ+ communities are continuing to pop up in new places, as June, also known as Pride Month, begins.

Numerous Pride events are returning this year in Carroll, Harford and Howard counties, while some new ones are starting up.

In Columbia a new waterfront celebration called Pride in July is launching. And in Bel Air grassroots get-togethers, like a Run For Pride in Bel Air, are returning this season.

Meanwhile, Upper Chesapeake Bay Pride Festival is now in its seventh year on the Havre de Grace waterfront (it will be held in the fall), and Sykesville Pride Day and Old Ellicott City Pride are back for a fifth year.

Taneytown Pride has 30 confirmed vendors, including performers such as a belly dancer, said Campbell-Temple.

As a mom of three, she said she wanted it to be family-friendly. As someone who’s involved in the local school system, through her work with an agency called Advanced Behavioral Health, she believes supporting local young people is important.

“We have a lot of LGBTQ youth, more than people are aware of or want to acknowledge,” she said. “I just saw a need [for this event] from all the youth that I was encountering.”

Several public posts about the event on Facebook have drawn a number of negative comments, but Campbell-Temple said she has not encountered any of that in real life. The mayor is among those supporting the event and has offered to donate money toward it, she noted.

The Taneytown committee did post a security statement, which it modeled on one from Sykesville Pride. A police officer will be on site, she said.

Here are details on many of the Pride events coming up in Carroll, Harford and Howard counties:

  • The fifth annual Old Ellicott City Pride runs from noon to 6 p.m., Saturday. It will be in the courthouse parking lot and the Inn at Mt. Ida. There will be free family-friendly activities plus music, drag, food trucks, vendors, a beer garden, scavenger hunt with prizes, and more.
  • Sykesville Pride will be from noon to 4 p.m., June 14 downtown, with local vendors, crafts, food trucks, live music and more.
  • Black Flag Brewing Co. in Columbia will hold a Pride Drag Brunch, noon-2 p.m., June 15. Tu Casa Food Truck will provide brunch.
  • Run With Pride returns for its second year, at 8 a.m. June 21, for a walk/run through downtown Bel Air. The event is held by Evolve Wellness and CoffeeBar.
  • Taneytown Pride June 22, noon to 4 p.m. at Memorial Park. There will be live performances from local artists, family-friendly activities like face-painting, food and drink from local vendors, Pride merchandise, and more.
  • Westminster Pride Festival, first held in 2018, is planned 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., July 26. It will be in Westminster City Park this year.
  • Columbia’s Pride in July will be 7-9:30 p.m., July 26, and will feature a neon color parade around the waterfront in Columbia, followed by a high-energy dance floor hosted by SADBrunch. Registration is available at columbiaassociation.org.
  • Upper Chesapeake Bay Pride Foundation will hold a Pride Gathering from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., June 28 at Flying Point Park in Edgewood.

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