Organizers of Ferndale’s very first Pride want it to be an annual event
Ferndale will hold its first-ever official Pride celebration next weekend. Educational workshops, trivia and Pride in the Park are all part of the planned festivities.
The weekend is a cooperative effort between Connect Ferndale, Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) and the city of Ferndale. The events are a test with minimal funding, said Sara O’Connor, executive director of Ferndale Community Services, which is part of Connect Ferndale. O’Connor said she hopes that will be different next year.
“I’ll definitely be looking for funding for next year because we want to offer food; we want to blow it up a little bit,” O’Connor said. “I need people to come; we want people to come. We want the workshops to be bursting.”
The weekend festivities will start Saturday, July 19 with three different workshops — The Science of Gender; Allyship 101 and Supporting Trans Youth. Registration is required for the workshops, and they will be followed by an all-ages trivia night at Fringe Brewing starting at 5 p.m. Pride in the Park begins at 11 a.m. Sunday at Pioneer Pavillion Community Center, and all of the events are entirely free. The events are intentionally inclusive of everyone, whether they hold an LGBTQ+ identity or not.
The cooperation between organizations emerged when WCLS decided to move its annual Pride in the Park from Blaine due to community feedback for a more central location. O’Connor said Connect Ferndale had been talking about holding a Pride event, so the two coordinated. Ferndale provided the groups with a venue in Pioneer Pavillion. O’Connor said a Pride event has been on the community’s radar for years.
“I think Ferndale’s ready. I know that I have been part of conversations for at least the last three years where people have said ‘hey, we should really do a pride event in Ferndale,’ but there hasn’t really been anybody who’s stepped up to lead it,” O’Connor said. “It is my hope that as we have this event that we demonstrate that as a community we are ready to be welcoming and to embrace our neighbors.”
Event organizers say they haven’t experienced any backlash related to the event. O’Connor said they are prepared for it. Requiring registration for the workshops allows the organizers to keep the location private. There will also be volunteer security at the workshops, and staff trained in de-escalation at Pride in the Park.
“We did that so we could create a layer of protection,” O’Connor said.
The events are being held a week after Bellingham’s Pride weekend.
This story was originally published July 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
