The fifth annual Four Corners Pride Festival kicks off tonight with a free documentary.
The gay pride festival, sponsored by the Rochester Hotel & Bar and Leland House, runs from tonight to Sunday, including the annual Family and Friends Pride Picnic held 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Rotary Park on East Second Avenue. The festivities are geared to raise awareness and understanding of people living in a rural area who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.
“While our capital is Denver, we face some very different issues,” said Barbara Balaguer, 4cGLAD board chairwoman. “So while we bring awareness and a continuing conversation about the LGBTQ community, we also, uniquely, face issues that aren’t necessarily the same in a metropolitan area, not the least of which is we have a very large Native American population here.”
Tonight’s free documentary film screening, “The New Black” starts at 5:30 at the Powerhouse Science Center, formerly known as the Durango Discovery Museum, on South Camino del Rio. The film focuses on a marriage-equality fight in Maryland and looks at how the African American community deals with this issue.
Thursday is a cocktail reception starting at 5 p.m. at the Rochester Hotel’s Secret Garden. The cash bar will feature the “Wilde Ginger” drink, made with ginger vodka, organic lemonade and cranberry juice. Friday is a dance party at the Animas City Theatre. It starts at 8:30 p.m. and tickets are $10. Saturday starts out with a parade on the Animas River at 10:30 a.m. No alcohol or dogs are allowed at the picnic. There’s an after-party at Lost Dog Bar and Grill.
Sunday events include 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. church services at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on East Third Avenue and a 10 a.m. service at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango on San Juan Drive. There’s also a 10 a.m. bike ride, with cyclists meeting in the Santa Rita Park parking lot off of U.S. Highway 160.
smueller@durangoherald.com
