A parade, live music and vendors drew residents to Main Street and Gardner Memorial Park on Sunday as the NEK Rainbow Coalition hosted PrideFest 2026. The annual event aims to celebrate and show support for LGBTQIA+ residents in the rural Northeast Kingdom.
Cassie Jones, co-chair of the coalition, said the gathering reminds people they are not alone. “Sometimes we forget that it is not as isolated and lonely as we think that it is,” Jones said. “When we have these types of events, we see that we have a whole community of people who are just like us and have gone through the same things we have.”
Another attendee, who asked that their last name not be used, reflected on how the festival has grown. The original PrideFest nearly fell through when its leadership team resigned, but local volunteers stepped in to keep it going.
Photo: Bradley Gossett via Unsplash. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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