09/28/2026
The tenth Frederick Pagan Pride Day is in the books, and I’m left as always trying to find a way to turn my thoughts and gratitude into words. Before I attempt that, here are the final tallies:
Around 500 people visited the festival this year, and that’s despite losing the last two hours to rain!
We collectively raised:
569.15 lbs of donations for the animal shelter
596.23 lbs of donations for the Frederick Food Bank
85.75 lbs of donations for the Western Maryland Immigrants Rights Coalition
That averages out to around 2.5 pounds of donations *per person.* The generosity of our community is really something. Thank you so much for helping us help some of the most vulnerable in our region.
Where the Frederick Pagan Pride Day really shines is in connecting people, though. It’s a great outreach event - Pagan Prides began as a way to combat misinformation and stereotypes about us – and that remains important. But the thing that struck me again and again yesterday was how important a Pagan Pride Day is for drawing the various different paths and solitaries together. It was wonderful seeing conversations blossoming, people making friends, folks connecting with different organizations and resources and otherwise just being SEEN.
I was talking with a friend about the festival this morning, and the phrase “this is medicine right now” came to me.
It’s rough out there. I don’t need to go into all the reasons why. I completely understand why some folks want to just hole up at home and connect to what community they can through their devices. I get it.
But it’s not the same.
These times together are medicine. They remind us, viscerally, that we are not alone. That we are part of a large community full of some of the smartest, funniest, kindest, and wisest beings you could ever wish for. This medicine reminds us that we have a place. We have a people. We have a culture. We have friends.
All the work and planning and sweat and aches are worth it to see us together.
To take this medicine and carry it in my heart.
As ever, I am so deeply grateful to all the various people who put so much time and effort into Frederick Pagan Pride Day.
First, the event staff! None of us are paid – this is a labor of love, an act of service, and an offering to the community and to the spirits we serve. HAIL THE DO-ERS! Y’all are fu***ng INCREDIBLE. From offering programming to emptying trash cans to getting vendors settled in and then packed out to answering questions to a very damp, rushed cleanup, our volunteer team ROCKS. A festival of this scale does not happen with a staff of one. I’m lucky enough to drive the bus, but the bus is FULL of a purple-clad squad of some of the best people I have ever known.
Deep gratitude to the Presenters, Ritual Leaders, and Entertainment! A festival is nothing without content and this year offered a great mix of traditions, information, encouragement, music, and connection. Special thanks to Stone Circle Wicca for the Opening Ritual and to The Firefly House for the Main Ritual. It takes a lot of work to prep an hour-long workshop, provide entertainment, or offer an opportunity for spiritual connection and devotion for a group of mostly unknown people. THANK YOU. Thank you so much for sharing your spirituality, expertise, guidance, talent, and leadership with us.
Deep gratitude, as well, to our Vendors and Booth sponsors. We know that part of why Frederick Pagan Pride Day is well attended is the shopping! Every year, we strive to offer a dynamic mix of artisans, purveyors of goods, and information booths to our attendees. Our Vendors and Booth Sponsors travel to us, in many cases, from several states away. We are so grateful to all of you for sharing your work with us.
Last but not least, deep gratitude to our spiritual home, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. Our congregation has been endlessly supportive of us over the last ten festivals. Some of the event volunteers you encountered weren’t even Pagans – they’re UUs who love us enough to want to help us. There are no words for a blessing of that kind.
The Autumnal Equinox is a time of Thanksgiving in many Pagan religions, and yesterday’s gathering reminds me why the timing of Pagan Prides is so appropriate to the season.
We give thanks! We give thanks! We give thanks!
Next year is year ELEVEN. Are you ready? I am.
With love and gratitude,
Irene Glasse
Lead Frederick Pagan Pride Day Coordinator
