08/03/2024
NORTH COVENTRY — The inaugural Pottstown Area Pride Festival will be held Saturday, Aug. 10, at Shenkel United Church of Christ at 1580 Shenkel Road, just off Unionville Road.
The event runs from 4-8 p.m., rain or shine.
In addition to Shenkel UCC, the event is being sponsored by Open Table United Church of Christ of Pottstown and First Baptist Church of Pottstown.
From 4 to 7 p.m., the festival will provide food, games, crafts, 34 vendors, a drag king and queen for Bingo, karaoke, and more.
Bobby Jo Valentine will perform live from 7 to 8 p.m.
“This event began as a concert with Bobby Jo Valentine, sponsored by Shenkel UCC and First Baptist Church. We invited Open Table to join us and as we imagined the event ideas began to bubble up about what else we could do. We invited folks from our churches to come to a planning meeting and by the time the evening was over, we had dreamed into reality the First Annual Pottstown Area Pride Fest,” the Rev. Marcia Bailey, pastor of First Baptist Church, explained to MediaNews Group.
June is widely considered “Pride Month” in the United States, but, wrote Bailey, “there are lots of Pride Festivals in June, and more throughout the summer. Ie. Berks County had one on July 21 and Lehigh High Valley Pride is Aug 18. Out in the Park is in September at Carpenter Field in Reading. There is nothing magical about June; we can have pride wherever and whenever people gather to celebrate the diversity and inclusion of all,” Bailey wrote.
Source: The Pottstown Mercury, Evan Brandt
