Volunteers Needed for 2025 Pride Festival

Did you know the Eugene Pride Festival is entirely organized and produced by a small group of dedicated local volunteers?  This event is not produced by the City, there is no large corporate or national organization involved, and we have no paid staff. We have a tiny budget for the size of the event and receive little support from those in power. We’re a small group of organizers and activists.

These queer/trans community members and allies with full time jobs, kids and families, and other obligations spend hundreds of hours of their own time to organize our beautiful event.  Some work a full-time job’s worth of hours to make the festival happen, even using their vacation time to make sure the event is successful – all while receiving no pay or other financial benefit.  We do it because we care, and we believe that Eugene deserves a vibrant celebration of our community.

While we are grateful for community feedback and do what we can to respond and adjust to the input we receive, the truth of the matter is that not enough of our community shows up to support this event.  This leaves an overwhelming amount of work for the few that do. With the challenges we are facing at the federal level and here locally, we need more support.   We made two big and necessary changes to the event this year:

• We moved to a new venue in order to keep the aggressive disrupters out of the festival.  We cannot do so at Alton Baker, and we can only keep these folks from interrupting the event by having gated, ticketed entry.  Despite assurances from EPD that we could keep these interlopers out last year if we had a suggested donation, fenced the perimeter of the festival with pennant flagging, posted a code of conduct, and wrist-banded attendees (all steps we took); we were abandoned by EPD on the day of the event and these disrupters were allowed to harass and assault attendees with graphic, offensive signage and hate speech using amplified sound – including knocking at least two individuals to the ground.

• We moved the event to June – a longtime request of much of the community.  After losing access to much of the parking Alton Baker Park last year, as well as being forced to create a “master transportation plan” for Alton Baker Park two months out from the event (with all-volunteer time), the City made clear that our traditional second weekend in August date was not actually “ours” and that the operators of the Cuthbert Amphitheater have first-right-of-refusal to control all access to the park up to Country Club Road.

  
  

Navigating last year’s challenges took hundred of hours and an intense amount of emotional labor from which many organizers have not recovered, and we continue to work toward a resolution to those issues.  We are doing our best to make these needed changes to the event, and we are thrilled with the sponsor, exhibitor, vendor, and entertainer support we are seeing and the number of applications we have received to take part in this year’s event.  It is shaping up to be incredible! And thank you sponsors – this event is ever more expensive and would not happen without your support!

What we are not seeing is the number of volunteer sign-ups we will need to safely hold the event.  Pride doesn’t just happen – it takes an enormous amount of work.  Please consider volunteering for this year’s festival.  Shifts are not very long, and there is something for folks of all abilities to help out with. Volunteers will receive a free entry ticket, a parking pass, and fun party with everyone who contributes later in the summer. If you are not sure how you can best help, please reach out: info@eugenepride.org. 

We understand there is a lot of fear right now, and accommodating that fear will not keep us safe – it will only hasten a descent into fascism/totalitarianism/oligarchy that will see out ability to exist in public erased.  Some of us have our names, faces, and even home address publicly posted online in connection to this event, so we understand your fear. However, now is the time to show up, to be in community, and to advocate for our right to exist.  All we have is each other, and the only power we have is our solidarity. 

Please show up for you community, be loud and proud, and don’t let the haters steal your joy – it’s what they want and are trying to do.  We are determined to honor our trancestors like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and so many others by honoring their legacy and continuing the fight that launched the modern movement for our rights to exist as queer/trans, as 2SLGBTQIA+, as DEI, as GAY!!

You can sign up to volunteer on our website. Thank you, and Happy Pride!