A reinvigorated festival

WRITTEN BY JUDY HARRISON

Organizers of this year’s Bangor Pride Festival, set for June 28, have expanded events leading up to the annual parade and gathering in West Market Square along with its presence on social media.

“Pride is about more than just June,” Samantha White, co-lead organizer, said. 

One of the group’s goals is to host Pride events throughout the year, she said.

White and others involved in planning this year’s festival have used Facebook postings to communicate their plans and to ask for input. This has included seeking sponsorships from individuals and businesses as well as holding a variety of fundraising events from a bottle drive to pet photos to pizza and fudge sales and drag shows. Organizers hope that presence on social media will draw in more people than the 7,500 who attended last year.

About This Year’s Event 

Bangor’s Pride festival will take place on June 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the parade starting at 11 a.m. Main stage festivities will take place from 12 to 4 p.m. More than 125 vendors and information booths will be set up in West Market Square, along Broad Street, and in the Key Bank building parking lot. A children’s activities area will be set up in Hannibal Hamlin Park. 

In addition to speakers, the event will honor couples who married on Dec. 29, 2012, the first day same-sex couples could marry after Mainers approved a ballot measure the previous month.

Generations of Pride

Followers of Bangor Pride’s social media posts have offered ideas on what they’d like to see at this year’s event and chose the theme. The winner was Generations of Pride. The logo, designed by co-lead organizer Cam Grover, features a pine tree, its roots showing, with the rainbow colors imposed over it.

Dominick Varney of Bangor and his family are excited to be attending the festival. 

“As a gay parent, it’s important to raise our child to be kind and tolerant of everyone,” he said. “We want him to see that people love differently. At the festival, it’s good that he sees lots of other families with two dads, like ours, and two moms.”

A Long Tradition

Betsy Lundy, executive director of Downtown Bangor Partnership, praised the efforts of this year’s organizers. 

“The current Pride Committee has really knocked it out of the park with social media and events,” she said. “The ongoing presence and activities keeps the community at the top of the mind and provides connection.” 

Bangor’s first gay pride parade was held in 1992. It was organized by three University of Maine students – Jim Martin, Meredith Noyes, and Sarah Lowden – who were seniors studying social work. They planned the parade as an advocacy project for a class. Between 150 and 200 people, including protesters, who held up signs with Bible quotes hand printed on them, showed up and an annual tradition was born.

Martin organized the event for 10 years, then turned it over to others. It languished for a few years before other groups stepped in to coordinate the parade and festival in West Market Square. Martin died of ALS in 2018.

Bangor Pride, the group that has organized the event in recent years, announced in November that Downtown Bangor Partnership, a local nonprofit, would be the financial agent for the 2025 parade and festival.

In this role, Downtown Bangor Partnership will help collect money and oversee bookkeeping for Bangor Pride’s annual Pride Festival, according to Lundy.

Previously, Bangor-based Health Equity Alliance, or HEAL, held that role. Bangor Pride decided to “gracefully step away” from HEAL, as it’s believed to be “best for both parties,” according to the group’s Facebook post last year.

That turned out to be a good decision as HEAL closed at the end of March after months of turbulence.

“We are working with Downtown Bangor Partnership to form a non-profit so we can raise our own money going forward,” White said.

The fundraising goal this year is between $13,000 and $15,000.

“The support has been overwhelming in the best way,” White said.

One of those supporters is Bangor City Council Chair Cara Pelletier, who praised this year’s organizers.

“It’s great to see a reinvigorated festival with such a wide variety of ways to get involved,” she said. “The diversity of events helps to amplify the message of unity and pride, while allowing more individuals to find connection opportunities that resonate with them personally. There’s art, theater, outdoor activities – it’s much more than just a parade!

“We know that Bangor Pride historically has drawn people from across northern and central Maine and Atlantic Canada who want to celebrate,” Pelletier continued. “I have no doubt we’ll see that again this year. My personal thanks go out to the committee that is working so hard to pull everything together. Having been involved in Pride in the past, I know how much time, energy, and love it takes to make it happen.”

Pelletier said that Bangor Pride continues to be an important event for Bangor because it offers a space for people to connect, celebrate, and find strength in community. 

“Even in 2025, and even in a welcoming state like Maine, LGBTQ+ people continue to face discrimination, political attacks, and social exclusion,” she said. “In light of the Trump administration’s policies targeting transgender athletes and DEI programs, this year’s pride feels even more vital. Community and solidarity are our best response, and pride remains a powerful act of visibility and resistance,” Pelletier added. “It’s also a celebration of love, progress, and a space to find healing. Pride reminds us that the fight for equality isn’t over – and that no one should have to stand alone.”