Pool Party Celebrates Pride Month

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The people of Mesquite turned out en masse for the city’s first-ever Pride Month celebration held on Friday, June 25. More than 200 people showed up for a good time at the Mesquite Pride Family Pool Party event held at the Mesquite Recreation Center.

June is set aside as Pride Month, to show support for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-sexual, Queer (LGBTQ) community.

But the Mesquite event was not only focused on LGBTQ participants, though there were many of them in attendance. Rather Friday’s celebration was organized to be all-inclusive; gearing towards embracing the entire community with plenty of fun for the whole family.

The crowd was well fed. A small team of cooks from the Mesquite Fire and Rescue Department donated their time to grill up hamburgers and hotdogs which had been provided by Eureka Community Initiative. Chips were donated by Scotty’s Grill at Falcon Ridge. The Mesquite Police Officers Association brought donuts and cookies made by Hole Foods Bakery for attendees to enjoy. Other treats were provided by Danielle’s Chocolates.

There were plenty of fun activities. Craft tables were there for the kids. Several activity stations were also set up by the Mesquite Public Library branch. And seven donated door prizes were awarded by drawing.

Everyone in attendance got a ticket to the drawings, just for coming through the gate. Additional tickets were given out to those who participated in the various activities.

Of course, the swimming pool, water slides and splash features were kept busy all evening by delighted attendees looking to cool off on a warm summer evening.

Dana Long, one of the event organizers, said that she was pleased at the diverse turnout.
“It is great to see so many people of all different ages and demographics coming here to show their support and have a good time,” said Long. “This is just exactly the event that we hoped it would be.”

Long said that planning for the event had been a bit of a last minute effort. She had the idea for organizing the event on June 1, the opening day of Pride Month.

“I saw all these plans for Pride Month activities all across the country and I thought, ‘We need to do something here in Mesquite!’,” she said. “So we had to put it on a fast-track.”

Long pulled together a committee of about half-dozen people to help her with the planning. The group spent a good deal of time honing their message for publicity purposes. “We wanted to get the word out that everyone was invited and that all should feel welcome and comfortable here,” Long said. “That was important to us.”

This strategy was obviously effective, said Henderson Equality Center Executive Director Chris Davin who came from Henderson to man a display table at the event.

“I am so happy that they are doing this,” Davin said. “I recently went to a similar event in another outlying area and there were only about 75 people there. And most of those were coming from Las Vegas to show support. To have this many community members at a first time Pride Month event is pretty great.”

At Davin’s table he was getting the word out about a monthly Teen Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) meeting held for kids ages 12-18 at the Mesquite Library on the first Thursday of each month.

“It is a chance for LGBTQ teens and allies to get together in a safe space, have fun, be supportive and learn about local resources,” Davin said.

For more information on this local GSA group call 855-955-5428.

Many people in attendance said that they appreciated the organizers for putting on this all-inclusive event.
“We thought we would come and check this out and I was really not expecting this kind of turnout,” said attendee Graham McGregor. “There is a good feeling of camaraderie here. There aren’t any naysayers or protesters. There isn’t anyone angry. It is just a great community activity.”

Mesquite Mayor Al Litman attended the event and was pleased with how well it was organized.
“I was impressed that, in addition to the LGBTQ community, there are a lot of people here who are not part of that community showing support,” Litman said. “There were families, kids, parents, Latino families, older people. Just a community getting together to celebrate Pride Month. It’s a nice event.”

“This is just Mesquite to a T,” Litman added. “Nice, friendly people, well behaved, and accepting of everything and anything.”