SOUTH BEND — Local community members, crafters and food vendors alike gathered inside Potawatomi Park Saturday afternoon, June 20, to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month — which is globally recognized in June — during South Bend LGBTQ Center’s annual Pride in the Park festival — arguably the most colorful event of the year.
Though this year’s festival took place the second to last Saturday in June, LGBTQ Center Board President Julian Schock said it is something he began planning as early as December. Yet, Schock has it down to a science.
“The planning itself is pretty straightforward,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for a couple years now, so I have a compiled email list, I collect business cards and resources from other like events that happen in the area throughout the year, and I kind of go from there.”
While the planning can seem laborious, Schock has a passion for the event’s broader purpose: community engagement.
“When it comes to Pride, I’m not trying to organize Chicago Pride. If people want to go to Chicago Pride, they’ll go to Chicago. I’m not gonna try to reinvent the wheel here. What I do in my event planning is I take a lot of pride in making South Bend Pride a community event that is local artists, local vendors [and] local food,” Schock said.
The event, which Schock called “a giant craft show with a rainbow flag draped over it,” drew an estimated 500-1,000 people within the first 30 minutes of the six-hour long festival, as The Tribune previously reported. Despite such, Schock said the attendance rate felt “a little bit lower than last year,” which he presumed was the result of competing with the city’s Leeper Park Art Fair and LaSalle Park’s 27th annual Juneteenth event for a crowd.
But among the foot traffic between vendors and attendees present at Pride in the Park was a reiterated theme of community acceptance and togetherness.
“What I seem to notice the most is the love, the acceptance of each other, and the sense of community,” said Pride at the Park first-timer and volunteer, Judy Chapman. “It’s just beautiful.”
Fellow attendee, TJ Rotino, said she has been going to various Pride events or festivals since she was 15. Now, nearly 40, she keeps coming to local events like Pride in the Park because “never have I felt uncomfortable at a Pride, never have I felt rushed. It’s the most patient, loving, accepting people here. Even if you come by yourself, you feel like you’re a part of the community. It’s unbeatable.”
Only this year, Rotino was not by herself at Pride. It was her first time meeting up in-person with Alanna Marby since the two met on a dating app.
Marby, who was born and raised in South Bend, said Pride in the Park serves as an annual reminder that there is an ever-present LGBTQ+ population in Indiana.
“I would really love to see more collaborative, queer spaces, because we do have a really great community here,” Marby said. “Sometimes, we just don’t have the spaces to truly connect with other people that are queer like us.”
Marby’s sentiments and desire for similar community-related events to foster inclusivity reflect the very reason why Schock said he finds such purpose in his duties planning the city’s Pride in the Park.
“The biggest benefit of this event is community, it’s bringing everybody together, making a safe space for people, getting people all hanging out with each other, spending an afternoon meeting new people,” he said. “That’s the benefit of it.”
Email South Bend Tribune summer 2026 intern Katherine Hill at KTHill@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend’s annual Pride in the Park fosters LGBTQ+ inclusivity
Reporting by Katherine Hill, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Katherine Hill, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
