10th Ogden Pride Festival shines on in spite of rally, march cancellations
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- Attendees enjoy the 10th annual Ogden Pride Festival on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.
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- Ogden City Council members Marcia White, Angela Choberka and Dave Graf along with state Rep. Rosemary Lesser present a proclamation opening the 10th annual Ogden Pride Festival on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024.
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- Weber County Commission candidate Steve Van Wagoner speaks with attendees at the Ogden Pride Festival on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.
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- Attendees browse the nearly 200 vendors that participated in the 10th annual Ogden Pride Festival on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.
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- Sean Childers-Gray, festival director for Ogden Pride and president of the group’s board of directors, opens festivities at the 10th annual Ogden Pride Festival on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024.
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- Members of Amtgard’s Duchy of Wymzee Dayle, a local live-action role-playing group, recruit at the 10th annual Ogden Pride Festival on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.
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- Revelers make their way through the booths at the 10th annual Ogden Pride Festival on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.
OGDEN — Sometimes even the best-laid plans go awry, but the show must go on.
Organizers of the 10th annual Ogden Pride Festival had intended to kick off the festival’s Saturday opening with a rally around Lester Park that would lead to a march down 25th Street to the Ogden Amphitheater. But the march and rally ended up canceled.
Laury Mattenson, vice president and volunteer director of Ogden Pride, told the Standard-Examiner: “With the march and rally, it was just permitting issues. It was an inability to get the permit in time to actually be able to have that happen. It was kind of out of our hands.”
She said that this setback wasn’t going to dampen the spirits of the festival.
“This is our 10th year and it’s going to be bigger than we’ve ever had it,” she said. “Regardless of the upsets and the hiccups and everything else, it’s going to be huge and amazing and we’re excited. We’re really, really excited. Everything is going to be so big and fun and bold. Those things happen, so we’re just going to march on.”
Mattenson said this year’s Ogden Pride Festival attracted around 200 vendors between Saturday and Sunday, calling reception for the 10th year “fantastic.”
“Ogden is a wonderful city to be in, especially for Pride,” she said. “We have a wonderful relationship with the city. We have a wonderful relationship with the community, and the community here, as a whole, is very accepting of us. We usually don’t have too many problems; usually, it’s just a great outpouring of support and love and inclusivity.”
The opening of Saturday’s festivities at the Ogden Amphitheater didn’t seem marred by the cancellation of the march and rally. Proceedings began with the presentation of a joint proclamation from the Ogden City Council and Mayor Ben Nadolski presented by City Council members Marcia White, Angela Choberka and Dave Graf. The members of the City Council also were joined on the stage by state Rep. Rosemary Lesser, D-Ogden.
Sean Childers-Gray, festival director for Ogden Pride and president of the group’s board of directors, helped kick off a night of entertainment with a rousing call to action.
“We’re not going anywhere,” he said. “Pride started 55 years ago — June 28, 1969 — where people were fed up. Today, we still have that fight. Today, we still stand because we do belong here and we’re not going anywhere. We continue Pride as an honor to those who fought in the streets throwing bricks and shot glasses to protect who they are. To say, ‘I am not taking it anymore.’ And today, we still say the same — I am not taking it anymore. And as a community, we need a community to fight with us. So stand next to someone who is LGBTQIA2S and say, ‘I support you, I stand with you and I will fight the bullies that you have.'”
