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Pride event coming to Turlock
Ceres Pride
Cal Pride Stanislaus volunteers in front of a booth at the Ceres Pride event held June 8 (Photo contributed).

For the first time ever, Cal Pride Stanislaus will host a Turlock Pride event, celebrating LGBTQ+ culture and rights. The family-friendly event will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Donnelly Park, 600 Pedras Rd.

“This is our first year in Turlock,” said Alex Guiterrez, operations director for Cal Pride Stanislaus, which has already hosted Pride events in Sonora, Ceres and Waterford this month.

This will be the first time for a Pride event in Turlock, however.

“We did an online poll on Instagram and asked our followers where they would like to see an event and Turlock won by quite a large margin,” he said.

The event will include vendors, kids activities, community booths, a drag show, free barbecue and more. All ages and identities are welcome.

“We think these events are important here at Cal Pride because there are queer people in small towns and sometimes they feel like they are the only ones. This is an opportunity for people to come and be around like-minded people in a safe environment,” said Gutierrez.

“We’re excited and looking forward to seeing the Turlock community.”

Cal Pride Stanislaus will also host events on Aug. 10 at Tuolumne Park and Recreation in Tuolumne, Aug. 17 at Applegate Park in Merced, Aug. 24 at 1202 H St. in Modesto, Aug. 31 at the Centre Plaza in Modesto and Sept. 7 at Murphys Park in Murphys.

For more information about the Pride events, or resources available through the nonprofit organization Cal Pride Stanislaus, visit calpride.org.

The monthlong Pride global celebration began with Gay Pride Week in late June 1970, a public celebration that marked the first anniversary of the violent police raid at New York’s Stonewall Inn, a gay bar. The first pride week featured marches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, and it has grown ever since. Some events fall outside of June: Tokyo’s Rainbow Pride was in April and Rio de Janeiro has a major event in November.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.