Despite the rain, Pride Parade continues in Moorhead

MOORHEAD, Minn., (KVRR) – Despite the heavy rain the area faced, numerous people participated in the Pride Parade in Moorhead. Celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in the FM area.

“It’s amazing. It is amazing to see all those people out in this kind of weather,” said Julie Sillers, the Pride Parade Director. “Willing to put up with it and support us anyway. It’s just phenomenal.”

The parade could have been called off because of the weather, something that Sillers hasn’t experienced in her five years running the parade.

“We talked about different variables that may be reasons to shut down the parade,” said Sillers. “We all agreed if it’s just a steady rain, we can trudge through it. Just like everybody else. We can trudge through this, we can trudge through life and we can continue on. So yes there were some discussion, but we knew we were going to pull it off.”

The parade serves as a tool to be visible to the communities as well. Especially during a time where they feel targeted by recent legislative decisions in the state of North Dakota.

“The things that legislators do have a huge impact on the lives of people,” said Chelsea Diederich, the FM Pride Committee Chair. “It’s not just if we’re happy, sometimes it’s a life or death situation.”

The event used to be housed in downtown Fargo, but this year changes were made to have it solely in Moorhead. Despite the changes that were made, hundreds of people still turned out for the event.

“It means a lot to have everyone out here today,” said Diederich. “We weren’t sure with the rain if it would hold people off. It shows how important it is to everybody. To have these celebrations, to have the visibility and people were still willing to brave the weather and have an amazing time out on the streets of Moorhead.”

Despite all the rain, and the dreary weather. The parade went on, as they marched with pride.