Kennett Square-area residents will have a new way to celebrate Pride this month when the Brandywine Pride volunteer committee hosts its first Brandywine Pride Picnic on Saturday, May 30, at Anson B. Nixon Park.
The free event will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is open to everyone, including LGBTQ community members, families, friends, neighbors, and allies. Organizers said the gathering is intended to give people a relaxed place to meet, connect, and celebrate the LGBTQ community in southern Chester County and northern Delaware.
Nicole Hilson, one of the Brandywine Pride volunteers, said she began thinking about the event in terms of what it could mean for her own family.
“I wanted him to have a place where he could see and meet other families like ours,” Hilson said of her son. “I wanted him to know that our family is part of a larger community.”
Planned activities include cornhole, frisbee, oversized board games, face painting, zine making, and relief printing on T-shirts. Representatives from local LGBTQ organizations will also attend. Guests who want to participate in the printing activity are encouraged to bring an old T-shirt. Live music will be provided by Frost & Fire, an acoustic duo featuring Amanda Mae Hall and Laura Leuter.
El Ranchero will sell tacos and other food from its pink truck, though families also may bring their own picnic. Organizers said guests are encouraged to bring a lawn chair or blanket for the music.
“For our first Brandywine Pride gathering, a picnic felt like the right place to begin,” said Daniel Embree, a Brandywine Pride volunteer and executive director of Kennett Collaborative. “There is a large and friendly community here, but we do not always have obvious places to gather. This picnic gives us a simple, joyful way to find one another.”
Organizers thanked Kennett Collaborative, the Chester County Community Foundation, the Theodore D. & Elizabeth A. Hadley Fund, and the CCCF Neil Joines Fund for supporting the event.
About Brandywine Pride
Brandywine Pride is an informal, volunteer-led community group working to create welcoming spaces for LGBTQ people, families, friends, and allies in southern Chester County and northern Delaware. Volunteers include local residents, LGBTQ community members and allies, and people connected to area nonprofits, small businesses, churches, and civic organizations.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
