Our family attended to the Pride Party at Orenco Station this weekend. It took us twice as long to get there because leaving the house with four people is always a challenge, and the endeavor was further delayed because my daughter had left her shoes at a city park. To do that she literally had gotten into the van barefoot with neither herself nor us noticing. We’re not the most observant bunch. Because the shoes were valuable, Tim drove all the way back to retrieve them. Luckily the missing footwear was located and we arrived at event the warmest part of the day.
Despite being billed as a party, the gathering was quite subdued. It was only about half the size of the farmers market with nearly the same vibe. It had a bunch of vendor tents and small groups milling about. I am not sure what I imagined, but there a lot of colorful flag decorations as families, teens and adults of all ages quietly walked and chatted. My kids were focussed on acquiring stickers and free rainbow-themed merch. There were booths featuring arts and crafts like candles and hand-crocheted stuffed animals. The Kona Ice truck had a long line.
It wasn’t sexual, which is probably a funny thing to say. I guess after years of seeing imagery of garish outfits and Mardi Gras type parades associated with Pride events on television, I didn’t know what to expect. In fact, there was an air of shyness. You can’t exactly tell who is what at such an event unless there is someone with a shirt that says “I am an ally” on it. Hillsboro is quite conservative compared with places such as San Francisco or Portland. There was some upbeat music played from the stage. At one point they encouraged people to show off their “best pride outfits” and then a couple of drag queens twirled a round a bit.
All the social services where there like parks and police, as well as groups specifically supporting particular groups such as teens. The booth encouraging people to become foster parents moved my heart as many young people who identify as LGBTQ+ are often rejected by their own families. There were also a lot of rescue dogs on leashes and poking out of backpacks and purses.
We saw a couple friends, but no one from our church. There was a couple of religious booths, but none of the mainstream congregations were present. It made me sad that more of my Christian friends did not attend.
The next morning in church, the first person on stage said, “God is everywhere,” and I heard the words echo in my heart. The main speaker talked about the parable in Luke about the lost sheep and how the shepherd left the ninety-nine to find the one. Of course God was already there, because people are more valuable than missing farm animals or shoes. It just takes the rest of us more time to notice.
