Small Town Pride concludes with parade and music in Carrboro

A fanfare of brass instruments broke through the idle chatter surrounding Weaver Street Market on Friday afternoon, commencing an evening of festivities that invited all to bust a move in support of the LGBTQ+ community. 

These festivities included the Pride Piper Walk and the Carrboro Pride Dance Party, the final events of Small Town Pride —a collaborative effort between the Town of Carrboro and the Town of Chapel Hill to provide the community with LGBTQ+ programming throughout Pride Month. 

The Bulltown Strutters — a community band that draws inspiration from the New Orleans Second Line style of parading — engaged a gathering crowd with music and dancing outside of the Carrboro Century Center, the starting point of the evening's events. 

“We have people from their 20s through their 80s in the band — different skill levels, different walks of life — and we all come together to do events like this and have a good time, spread some joy,” Don Porter, a band trombonist, said. 

After performing a collection of songs that showcased its jazz and funk style, the band led the crowd — dressed in a display of rainbow colors — down Weaver Street to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

At the front of the spectacle was the Rainbow Ram, a statue painted in colorful hearts created by local artist Steven Ray Miller. Usually residing outside the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau, the ram led the crowd on a cart pulled by a parade participant toward the Carrboro Town Commons, where the dance party was soon to begin. 

Food trucks, local vendors and colorful balloons lined the Commons as the Bulltown Strutters played their final tune of the evening, closing out the parade. Community members then turned their attention to a series of speakers who kicked off the dance party, including Chapel Hill Mayor Pro Tem Amy Ryan, who encouraged onlookers to vote this November. 

Ryan said to the crowd that voting is necessary to combat threats against reproductive rights, which remains a point of contention in U.S. and state politics. Last year, the N.C. General Assembly ratified Senate Bill 20, making it so that women could not receive an abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy. 

“If we all vote our values across this country, things are gonna be okay,” she added. 

After a final speaker gave credit to everyone who made the event possible, the crowd cheered as the dance party officially began. WXYC, UNC’s student-run radio station, provided the tunes that underscored the celebration. Zane Alsebai — known as DJ Mustahil, meaning “impossible” in Arabic — curated an energetic set for the event.

“We’ve got some Beyoncé remixes, Shygirl, Kylie Minogue — you know, something fun for everyone,” he said.

It was not just live DJs that got people on their feet, however. Oscar Garcia, a local dance instructor, led participants through a free Zumba class, just as he does at the Carrboro Town Commons every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 p.m. 

“The music brings people together, we don’t think about race, color. It’s just music. It’s universal,” Garcia said. 

As everyone danced, mingled and enjoyed performances by local drag artists, nonprofit organizations and local vendors displayed their advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community at tables set up around the Commons. 

One vendor, Aires Makers — a cooperative of artists run by Steckley Lee — celebrates young, neurodivergent artists by creating a safe space for them to get together and do what they love, she said. 

Lee sold handcrafted items made by her son, including functional artwork — phone cases, headbands and hair clips, for example — out of decoden, a liquid silicone. 

People from across the community attended the dance party, including former Carrboro Mayor Damon Seils, who helped organize the event in its first year.

“I was one of the small number of North Carolina LGBTQ elected officials, so it was important to me personally, of course,” Seils said. “But also, just wanting to live up to Carrboro’s long standing reputation as a beacon in the South for LGBTQ people.”

Seils no longer helps plan the event and has since passed the torch to leaders like Catherine Lazorko, the communications and engagement director for the Town of Carrboro, who worked with a team to plan this year's dance party.

“We’re a small town, but we’re big on Pride,” Lazorko said.

WXYC’s Luke Cimarusti, aka DJ LuLu, closed out the dance party with a set of their own, marking the conclusion of the Small Town Pride series. Even though Pride Month has formally come to a close in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, for many community members the dance party showed them that one thing is clear: Pride is here to stay.

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com