While the majority of pride celebrations for the LGBTQ community are held during Pride Month in June, South Jersey has its own tradition in September of each year.
A pride festival has been put on at Cooper River Park on the first Sunday of September since 2008 when founder Erin Baskin-Bradshaw and her then girlfriend realized that though there were pride celebrations all over the country, there was nothing in the South Jersey area.
“We were coming back from Charlotte Pride in North Carolina, we were like, ‘Why don’t we have something like this where we live?’ We’re going to all these other places, and we don’t have anything in our own backyard,” recalled Baskin-Bradshaw.
This year, the festival took place on Sept. 7 as a rain or shine event.
Local businesses, vendors and community organizations came out, each setting up tents along the park’s paved path that runs parallel to the river.
The New Jersey Chapter of the AIDS Memorial Quilt was in attendance, with a portion of the quilt on display for those in attendance to see and learn more about the organization.
The quilt was first conceived during the height of the AIDS pandemic in 1985, as a way for loved ones of those who died of the disease to document their loved one’s name and help make others understand the impact of the disease.
Another community organization in attendance was the Transcendent Choir of Philadelphia, which aims to empower transgender people in the region through music.
“We support singers at any point in their transition, whether or not they’re going through hormone replacement therapy,” explained founding artistic director Maya Kociba. “We sing classical, choral rap, pop music, musical theater, any, really, anything you can think of.”
In addition to the various community organizations and queer-owned or operated businesses, there were also live performances, with comedian Michelle Tomko serving as the master of ceremonies.
“What is so great about it is we see kids, we see dogs,” Tompkins noted. “We see people that are just out in the park for the day… It’s a real community builder. Anybody that wants to perform can make a lobby to be on the docket to perform, along with people that perform annually.
“You would be hard pressed to find a more inclusive event.”
The first of the live events was the annual voguing contest, in which anyone in attendance could sign up to participate to do their best form of the voguing dance, which is an important and recognizable part of LGBTQ culture.
Participants of all ages lined up at the performance area and danced across the lawn, each giving their own interpretation and spin of the dance, with some focusing more on arm movement as others used their whole body.
Once everyone vogued, Tomko asked the audience to cheer the loudest for who they wanted to win.
The winner was Beau Baldyga, an attendee who dabbles in drag. Baldyga was presented with a tall, sparkly crown for their achievement.
“It feels very rewarding being a drag performer who just came to do it so that my niece would get up,” Baldyga shared. “It was very, very fun. The crowd was very nice.”
Following the contest, Tomko started a dance party, encouraging everyone to get out on the lawn and dance to songs like the “Cha Cha Slide,” “Cupid Shuffle” and “The Wobble.”
Drag performers Dr. Rasta Boi Punany and Mrs. Andrea LaMour entertained the crowd with performances.
Each one gave a lip syncing performance to different songs.
The event lasted several hours with hundreds of people coming through the park to stop to speak with others, spend time at one of the booths or watch the performances.
