草莓传媒 is marking聽Pride Month聽by showcasing the people, places and important issues in the LGBTQ+ communities in the D.C. area. Check back all throughout June as we share these stories, on air and online.
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WorldPride D.C. is now a wrap. The three week festival brought millions of people to the nation鈥檚 capital.On the last day of the festival, 草莓传媒 spoke to both D.C.-area residents and people who traveled to the District to be a part of only the second WorldPride in the U.S.
鈥淚鈥檓 loving it here!,鈥� said Angel Creek, a first-time WorldPride attendee. The Chicago native was joined by fellow Howard University student Venus Burrell.
Creek said her favorite parts of WorldPride were the outfits, the amount of color and the small businesses who had tents at the festival.
One D.C. business that once again was turning heads at the festival was . Owner Jaime Quintero told 草莓传媒 that as a local business owner, he felt a duty to support the community and be there.
鈥淭his year has been amazing, because it鈥檚 WorldPride,鈥� Quintero said.
The three week festival has been two-and-a-half years in the making thanks to the work from the , which produced WorldPride.
Ashley Smith, board president of Capital Pride Alliance, told 草莓传媒 that 500 volunteers helped with the three week festival.
鈥淭he volunteers, the staff, the board, the whole nine, really trying to pull all this together, and our partners, that’s the only way we were able to do it,鈥� Smith said Saturday.
One of the partners was the and its director, Japer Bowles.
Social media influencer Jose Romero, known as , who’s also marketing executive producer for Capital Pride Alliance, said he was impressed with the D.C.-area’s LGBTQ+ community, who lent a helping hand.
鈥淭he new volunteers, so many people that haven’t volunteered before, are here, welcoming the world and making this happen,鈥� Romero said.
One of those welcomed was Devin Plant, who traveled with friends to join the celebration in D.C.
鈥淵ou don’t have anything like this in Maine,鈥� Plant said. 鈥淚 think we have one singular gay bar in the whole state.
Plant joked that there are so few gay people in his hometown Bangor, that if he opens a dating app, he knows everyone on it.
This was Plant鈥檚 first trip to D.C. since he was in middle school.
鈥淭his historic event is probably something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life,鈥� Plant said.
Another thing Plant said he won鈥檛 forget for a while is the sunburn he received during the parade, joking that there isn’t as much sun in Maine.
One of the most impressive displays during the parade, which had 300 groups marching, was a 1,000-foot Pride Flag 鈥� said to be the world鈥檚 largest.
D.C.-area resident Allison Moody, who helped carry the giant Pride Flag, said it was stitched by the original creator of the Pride Flag, Gilbert Baker.
So, how big was the parade鈥檚 crowd size?
Smith said he had received estimates of 1.5 million attendees observing the parade as it moved along 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The streets are much bigger than the traditional route though D.C.’s Dupont neighborhood.
Last year, the parade used the same route as a test run for this year鈥檚 WorldPride 鈥� and it seems like this new pride route is permanent.
鈥淭here may be some changes to it slightly, but we’ll try to keep it the same route as much as
we can,鈥� Smith said.
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