And much to look forward to with Garland Pride on the horizon
It’s almost been a full week since Spokane’s annual Pride celebration, and Matt Danielson is tired.
The executive director of Spokane Pride, Danielson said he’s still waiting for the full emotion of the day to sink in — and for cellphone data that will indicate truly how large the gathering was this year to come back — but he’s proud of how the event went.
While they don’t have a headcount on attendees, and won’t for a few weeks, there were slightly more parade entrants than usual, Danielson said, and “incrementally more” vendor registrations. Around 130 groups marched in the parade, and 250 registered for booths in Spokane’s Riverfront Park. Whatever the exact numbers are, it was a huge event, sprawling across most of the park.
Five different stages hosted performances ranging from drag to local bands to open karaoke for anyone to participate in. Spokane Indigi-Q held their fourth annual celebration in the park, too, with a queer, Indigenous fashion show, an Indigi-Q drag show, traditional dances and drum contests. The night capped off with a huge block party hosted by Nyne, which got to shut down a city block for the first time, bringing celebrations out into the street.
With the sheer volume of entertainment and community events taking place not just on Saturday — the Friday before featured a Trans Rights Rally hosted by Trans Spokane and Spokane Pride, community yoga by Coil Studio and a kick-off show under the pavilion — one of the high points for Danielson was simply the organizational smoothness. This year, they divided volunteers and board members into teams of committees that focused on specific aspects of Pride, like accessibility, entertainment and Trans Pride.
“ Honestly, I was so proud of my people. We really built out these committees this year, and they functioned at such a high level,” Danielson said. “ I was also really proud of the fact that we got four hundred volunteers, I think … Our community comes together so much for this, and I'm so appreciative of all the help.”
Drag artist TS Loveless, who programmed the stage in the beer garden under the pavilion alongside longtime drag queen Crystal Marche and DJ Derrick, also pointed to the smoothness of the operation as a high point.
“ From the standpoint of somebody who really put a lot of time into planning it, everybody showing up on time and being ready to go was a huge highlight,” Loveless said.
Because of this new operational efficiency, they were in and out of the park quickly, and Danielson was able to actually enjoy at least some moments of Pride. He said he was able to personally visit each booth in the park, and to wish all the parade entries “Happy Pride!” by biking up and down the line before it began.
”It was really cool being able to, like, actually interact with the parade, because my joke used to be, ‘What parade?’ But I'm like, you know, running the festival and everything,” he said.
The Parade was led this year by Indigenous Peoples Grand Marshal and founder of the Montana Two-Spirit Society Steven Barrios, Community Grand Marshal Dr. Kristine Coons, Youth Grand Marshal Veronica Garcia, Over the Rainbow Grand Marshal Robbin Wood, Organizational Grand Marshal Jewels Helping Hands — who just opened a homeless shelter for LGBTQ+ Spokanites — and Ally Grand Marshal Dr. Pam Kohlmeier. Jonathan Shuffield was also honored en memoriam as the Legacy Grand Marshal, marked by a cardboard cut-out of a smiling Shuffield.
Justine Lee, the lead of the accessibility committee, was most proud of the way that Spokane Pride made accessibility a priority this year. Lee led much of that effort, setting up an indoor sensory zone for people and creating maps that listed the services available. Booths were intentionally placed on accessible paths, Danielson said. There were ASL interpreters announcing the Pride Parade and two of the stages, accessibility shuttles that made drop-offs at locations around the park, free ADA parking and an accessibility parking lot shuttle.
Lee, who got involved after attending the 2025 Pride Festival and seeing a need for more accessibility, said one of their highlights was the indoor sensory zone, which gave people a chance to get out of the heat and away from the crowds and loud noises. It was a safe space for people to continue their Pride festivities, Lee said, including for a woman who was able to finish out the day inside at the sensory zone with her grandchildren after she fainted.
Since Saturday, the accessibility committee has grown even larger, and has a checklist of things they want to improve for 2027 celebrations. “I truly hope we can continue to improve inclusion for our community,” Lee wrote in a text to Stonewall News Northwest.
Loveless said inclusivity was a focus of the programming for the beer garden stage, which featured musicians like the lesbian-couple-fronted band Angela Marie Project, Wild Alchemy belly dancers and multiple groups of drag performers, including Loveless’s own alternative drag group Queerdos, and burlesque performances by the Vaude Villains.
“ We wanted it to be a really good variety of entertainment,” they said. “ We wanted really, really solid and reliable performers that we felt actually represented the diversity and differences in our community.”
Though Spokane Pride is over, Danielson, Lee and Loveless are all looking forward to Garland Pride in late August. It’s two months out, but preparations are well underway. Lee is working to find a business with storefront space in the Garland district to set-up an accessibility zone in, while Loveless is coordinating the main drag show for the event (and also hoping to be able to carve out some time to celebrate).
For Danielson, Garland Pride, which recently received a $10,000 grant from the city of Spokane, isn’t even the next big thing. Spokane Pride provides support to other rural Prides in the Inland Northwest: they’re sending volunteers to Missoula Pride soon, and Danielson will be taking sound equipment up to Creston, BC in Canada to help support their very first Pride. He also plans to go to Sandpoint Pride, Lewiston Pride and Palouse Pride — and somewhere along the way, maybe he’ll get to celebrate himself.
“ There's lots of Pride, and it needs to all happen,” Danielson said. “ And I think Spokane Pride showing support to the smaller Prides is just so important, and just like building our overarching community of the Inland Northwest — and if shit gets real bad, coordinating pushback and mutual support. I think that's the direction we need to go as a community.”
