Local LGBTQ+ Group Straits Pride Shares Summer Events Schedule

The local LGBTQ+ advocacy and support organization Straits Pride kicked off its summer season during June Pride Month. Coffee hours have resumed at a new location at The Boxwood Coffee Shop and Café at Mission Point Resort, the annual St. Ignace Pride Festival was held Saturday, June 17, and supporters of the nonprofit marched in the Lilac Festival Grand Parade Sunday, June 18. The group’s first Pride Ride around the Island immediately followed the parade.

“It’s a pretty full season again, and a pretty full calendar,” said Straits Pride Vice President Kyrsten Cavazos.

The 2023 schedule of events stays about the same year to year, she said, with the groups’ flagship events gernerally being held at the same time each year.

Coffee Hours are held every other Monday at the Boxwood Coffee Shop, and the Ware family has donated refreshments for the season. The coffee hours are relaxed, casual events for the Island’s LGBTQ+ community and allies to socialize in a low-key environment.

“It’s just a place you can drop in and feel safe and comfortable,” said Straits Pride Treasurer Philip Rice. “With our identity being an advocacy group, we want to be able to have a conversation about ourselves and life and about politics or society or whatever it is that’s on our minds. And it’s so hard to do that in a bar space.”

The next coffee hour will be held Monday, July 3, at 5:30 p.m.

Each month, Straits Pride also hosts an online book club, partnering with The Island Bookstore to provide copies available for purchase. The discussions are held online at tinyurl.com/mrfmsjbv and books are written by Queer authors or discuss LGBTQ+ themes and issues.

Straits Pride also hosted its first tie-dye event in Marquette Park this month, organized by Ms. Cavazos who also chairs the group’s events committee. The event was well attended, and Straits Pride hopes to host another this season. Ms. Cavazos had 90 shirts the group thought would last all summer, but 48 were given away during the first tie-dye session because almost 50 people attended.

Other upcoming events include the St. Ignace Independence Day Parade Tuesday, July 4. Mackinac Island events include the Fifth Annual Family Picnic Wednesday, July 12, Drag Queen Bingo Saturday, July 22, and the Sixth Annual Pride Crawl Monday evening, August 7. The second annual Mackinac Island Straits Pride Festival will begin Thursday, September 14, at 4 p.m., and will last until Sunday, September 17. Later in the fall, Straits Pride will also host a Coming Out Dray hayride in honor of National Coming Out Day Wednesday, October 11. The group will close out the season with a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening Friday, October 27, in the Mission Point Theater.

“We’re ready for all the people who want to come support us,” Ms. Cavazos said.

Straits Pride was founded in 2019 by board members Ms. Cavazos, Dr. Rice, President Travis Sredzinski, and Secretary Bart Berkshire. The group serves the Island, St. Ignace, Mackinaw

City, Cheboygan, Les Cheneaux, and surrounding areas by providing advocacy, support, awareness, and events for the LGBTQ+ community.

Straits Pride also sells merchandise, available on its website, such as beanies and shirts. Later this summer, the group will have another competition to design the shirt for the Mackinac Island Pride Festival.

The best way to keep up to date with Straits Pride events is to visit the website, www.straitspride.org, and the group’s social media pages for information about upcoming events.

“You never know what we might come up with for the rest of the summer,” Ms. Cavazos said.