Several members of Girl Scout Troop 30080 gather around a table at the Pride Prep event to make bracelets and signs.
June marks Pride Month, a celebration of the LGBTQ community and its contributions to society, and the observance has municipalities across the nation hosting parties, parades and special events themed around pride and LGBTQ history and culture.
Haddonfield is among them. It has already hosted events this month – also known as LGBTQ Pride Month – the largest of which was the June 5 Pride Prep at Liberty Point hosted by the Human Relations Commission and the Haddonfield library.
Jen Sheran is a member of the commission and helped organize the event.
“The Human Relations Commission has been working on putting together events around town to make sure that everyone feels included in partnership with other organizations in town,” she said.
Sheran also noted that the commission held an event in the borough several years ago, before there were celebrations of Pride Month.Â
“We just noticed that there wasn’t one and decided this was where we would start,’ she recalled. “It’s bringing families out to Library Point to have something for everybody to do in Haddonfield for pride.”
The goal of the event was to prepare participants for the Haddon Township Pride parade one hour after the Pride Prep.
“Haddonfield has participated in the Haddon Township Pride Parade for four years now, and the Haddonfield Human Relations Commission has created this little event to get ready for the (PATCO) train,” explained Michael Marciante, executive director of the Partnership for Haddonfield, referring to participants who take the Haddonfield PATCO train after the parade into Haddon Township.
“We used to call it Ride to Pride.”
Along with the commission-library partnership, Pride Prep partnered with borough Girl Scout Troop 30080 as a co-host. Two tables were set up on the lawn outside the library to help guests get creative with several colorful crafts. One held markers in every color and pieces of cardboard and poster board for anyone who wanted to make a sign for the Haddon Township parade. It also featured a number of materials to make two types of bracelets, made of either colored string, ribbon, charms or beads, or small rubber bands that could be woven together into a braid.
The other table featured face gems, temporary tattoos and a rainbow of tinsel, used by the Scouts to decorate hair. Glitter eye shadow was also provided, which one of the middle-school girls in attendance applied to others in various Pride-inspired designs.
“There’s face gems and hair tinsel and eyeshadow applied by a very skilled seventh grader, very celebratory eye shadow,” Sheran noted. “I’m not kidding: She is actually really skilled.”
Music from a Pride playlist could be heard throughout the Prep, which saw a steady stream of passersby attending and engaging with the celebration.
Christina Bozarth is another member of the commission.
“We’ve been doing a lot of programming … focused on the theme of the month,” she pointed out, “whatever’s happening throughout the year. So it’s June and it’s a Pride Parade. So we do Pride.”
The borough will also display Pride flags along Kings Highway starting on June 16, and plans a ticketed dinner to celebrate Pride on Wednesday, June 25, in Kings Court.
