‘Making a safe space for people to be themselves’: East Central Minnesota Pride celebrates 20 years

When Aaron Bombard moved to Pine City in 2013, he wasn’t aware of an area pride event until making the discovery on social media.

The now-East Central Minnesota Pride chair recalls heading out to the gathering at Voyageur Park.

“It was smaller, it was a little more close-knit,” he said. “Like I showed up, and it was almost kind of intimidating, right? There’s this LGBTQ+ community here, and getting to meet people. Fast forward to next week, and it’s this huge event where we’re welcoming thousands of people into the park and into town to celebrate Pride. It’s great to see that there’s been this growth and love and acceptance of the community, and making a safe space for people to be themselves.”

Now, with East Central Minnesota Pride celebrating its twentieth anniversary in Pine City on Saturday, Bombard and board member Phil Schroeder looked back — and forward — at the event’s history in an interview with WCMP.

‘Like a big family reunion’

The first Pride event was held in 2005 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of The Men’s Circle, an area support group for gay, bi, trans, and questioning men.

“It started with just a group of men that had formed a sort-of loosely-knit support group of LGBTQ men in this area,” Schroeder explained. “And one year they decided, ‘well for Pride, we’re going to have a picnic.’ And they got together, and I think they were surprised that actually 50 people showed up back then.”

“They just thought it was going to be kind of like a pot-luck picnic with some of their friends,” Bombard added with a laugh.

According to the organization, it was the first rural pride event not just in the state, but the country.

Schroeder said the early days of East Central Minnesota Pride felt like a ‘big family reunion.’

“We’d have the tents out, and we’d have a picnic,” he said. “And so you’d see a lot of familiar faces once a year.”

Schroeder said that picnic-inspired ethos drove the first five years of the event. After adding music and operating on a budget of a couple hundred dollars, organizers watched the event grow.

The organization Schroeder is a member of, East Central Minnesota PFLAG, started getting involved in about 2008.

2015 marked the first year East Central Minnesota Pride began flying a banner over Main Street. Bombard recalled a member of the organization receiving a thank-you letter from an LGBTQ+ youth, expressing gratitude for the display of community support.

“Hearing that is such a solid foundation to remind us that what we’re doing is very meaningful,” Bombard said. “And it’s not just necessarily about a day in the park, it is about visibility.”

“We get a lot of feedback from the kids, that they can have a place to spend a day to just be themselves,” Schroeder added. “That’s a rare opportunity around this area.”

In 2016, Pride uprooted from Voyageur Park and moved to Robinson Park in downtown Pine City.

“It really started out with some founding members that are still on our board, and have carried this tradition since the first one,” Schroeder said.

An ‘impetus for other rural Prides to get going’

As the first rural Minnesota Pride, Schroeder said the event has served as a kind of blueprint for other communities.

“I think over our 20 years, and being the first rural Pride, we kind of were the impetus for other rural Prides to get going,” he said. 

Schroeder mentioned summertime events in communities like Brainerd, Willmar, and Alexandria taking place in the wake of East Central Minnesota Pride’s momentum. 

“We kind of have a responsibility as someone who’s been around for 20 years successfully to help them accomplish that same goal of having visibility in their community and creating that acceptance. I think that Pride here has really changed a lot of people’s minds,” Bombard said. 

And it’s not just other Minnesota municipalities taking notice. 

Schroeder said that last year, a group from Pakistan came to the United States to study Pride, and visited Pine City for a rural model.

“They were making two stops,” Schroeder said. “They came to Minneapolis, they stopped here, and then they were going to Washington, D.C. for their Pride event, and then they were flying back.”

“Two major spots in the United States,” he added with a laugh. “But that was really something. It’s amazing who shows up.”

20 years of Pride

Bombard said celebrating this year’s milestone event will include honoring some of the founding board members.

“We’re actually planning on having some of those founding members up on stage, to kind of award them for the path that they paved for the rest of us,” he said.

One of the performers at the original Pride, Barb Ryman, will return for a set during the 2025 iteration.

Ryman’s performance and other entertainment is funded by a grant from the East Central Arts Regional Arts Council.

East Central Minnesota Pride has also been approved for grant funding from the Minnesota Historical Society for a historical marker commemorating the first Pride event in Voyageur Park.

“We’ll be moving forward with the city to work on placement of that, back where the original Pride took place,” Bombard said. 

At a meeting on April 2, the Pine City Council voted 3-2 to enter a memorandum of understanding with the organization for the installation and maintenance of a marker.

As Pride moves forward, Bombard said one of his goals is to further integrate the organization in the Pine City Community.

“Showing that, you know, we’re not just East Central Minnesota Pride, we are a part of the community,” he said. “Some of the things that we’re gearing up to do will hopefully reflect that, to get us more involved in other community events that are going on around town.”

This year’s Pride event will be held on Saturday, June 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Robinson Park. An afterparty and drag show will go from 6 p.m. until midnight at 320 Brewing. 

The weekend will wrap up with an interfaith service on Sunday, June 8, at 10 a.m. at the Pine Center For the Arts.