LOCAL

St. Cloud Pride connects community with online events

Sarah Colburn
Special to the Times

ST. CLOUD — St. Cloud Pride is celebrating Pride Week in a new way this year – online. The local organization is working to continually connect with its members from afar.

“The nice thing about this is some people are afraid to come out publicly or be present at an event,” said Prudy Reberg, chair of St. Cloud Pride, which supports the LGBTQ+ community. “This gives anyone the opportunity to participate and enjoy the music and the fun from the safety of their home.”

St. Cloud Pride board members Cody Lamek, Kristen Petersen, Prudy Reberg, Mandy Spiczka and Taryn Gentile.

Additionally, she said, some of the events can be enjoyed by small groups of friends getting together to participate online.

Pride Week kicked off Monday and concludes with a digital dance party Friday, a park cleanup on Saturday and a virtual drag show Saturday night.

“We didn’t want to give up the celebration of St. Cloud Pride,” she said. “We just got really creative in finding ways to make it happen.”

Matt Amundson, Prudy Reberg and Cody Lamek participate in the Pride in Our Parks Cleanup in June.

The week’s events:

Show Your Colors: All week, display support throughout the community by decorating your business with flags and yard signs. St. Cloud Pride has yard signs available for pick-up, ordering or printing.

Pride Pet Digital Costume Contest: Dress your pet to celebrate Pride Week. Share a photo on Pride’s Facebook event posting. Submissions due: Sept. 14-17. Voting: Sept 18-20. Themes: Pride, Best Costume, COVID Response. Prizes awarded.

Digital Pride Parade: Sept. 14-20. See how local groups and businesses support the LGBTQ+ community. More details at https://www.facebook.com/events/915202755640360/.

How to be a Good Ally – Digital Panel: 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. Get tips and expert advice from panelists about how to be a good ally for the LGBTQ+ community. 

Digital Dance Party: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18. Join Pride members from the comfort of your living room. The digital dance party will be hosted by DJ Pleeza and will feature a special guest appearance.

Pride in Our Parks Cleanup: 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Help give back to the St. Cloud area by cleaning up area parks. Sign-up is available online.

Digital Drag Show: 7-10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Join Pride members for a digital drag show featuring the performance group Fluidity. Tips for the performers will be accepted via Venmo and Paypal.

To sponsor PRIDE week send an email to info@stcpride.org.

To find complete details and times for all of the events go to https://www.facebook.com/stcloudpride.