Organizers: Grand Haven Pride is ‘important, powerful’

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) — Organizers say the Grand Haven Pride Festival — now in its second year — offers an important and powerful opportunity for people to see themselves in the community.

In 2023, the inaugural festival received some pushback. This year, the festival features nearly double the amount of entertainment and vendors, and the process has been “mostly smooth,” according to Grand Haven Pride Committee member Kara Schoonveld.

“Overall, we’ve had a fantastic welcoming by the whole Grand Haven community, which has been wonderful,” Schoonveld said. “We just established Grand Haven Pride as a nonprofit within the last month, and we’re also planning to expand not only from doing the annual Pride festival, but also having community events throughout the year as well.”

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Organizers say the festival is an important opportunity for representation.

“Celebrating Pride in a place like Grand Haven is so important. Growing up here, there wasn’t really any opportunity for me to see myself in my own local community,” Schoonveld said. “So to look around and to recognize that there are a lot of queer kids here who are seeing themselves, who are recognizing themselves around them, is so important. It’s so powerful.”

At last year’s festival, Schoonveld recalls seeing seeing older community members “looking around in wonder.”

“It gives me goosebumps to talk about. The idea that we can go decades into our lives and not see ourselves in our community, it can be so damaging and so hurtful to have to hide that part of yourself. And so to watch them watch their community, for maybe the first time, not only tolerate their existence but to actually welcome them and uplift them was so powerful, and it’s so important.”

The festival ran until 9 p.m.

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