‘Queer people are not a danger’: Elgin’s third Pride Parade to celebrate community Saturday

After rain dampened last year's festivities but not the mood, organizers hope for clear skies and crowded streets at the Elgin Pride Parade and Festival Saturday.

The third annual family-friendly parade has about 60 entrants registered and will step off at 11 a.m. downtown, starting and ending near Festival Park as it goes north on Riverside Drive and returns south on Grove Avenue.

A free festival will immediately follow the parade in Festival Park, featuring local vendors offering merchandise and services, LGBTQ+ musicians and performance artists and about 15 food trucks offering various cuisines and nonalcoholic beverages.

“It’s all about having fun and recognizing the community and seeing that queer people are not a danger,” said Travis Hooker, the Elgin Pride board chairman.

More than 4,000 people attended the inaugural event in 2023. A steady rain “put a damper on things” last year, Hooker said, but they still drew almost half as many people.

He has high hopes for Saturday, saying the forecast calls for “81 degrees, partly cloudy, a 4% chance of precipitation and a 0% chance of thunderstorms.”

“I’ve become the Farmer’s Almanac this year,” Hooker said.

Hooker is a retired Elgin police officer who spent almost 30 years with the force and started their LGBT outreach program. He’s also vice chair of the American Bar Association Civil Rights Division and works with the Illinois chapter of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

He said things have come a long way since he was a kid in the 70s when homosexuality was listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

“This isn’t ancient history. If you were gay then you were — quote, unquote — crazy,” Hooker said. “We’ve accomplished a lot, but there’s still more to do.”

It’s been a year of growth for Elgin Pride, which established itself as a 501(c) (3) last year and doubled the size of its board while growing the number of events it hosts.

In addition to the annual parade and festival, the group has a queer book club, hosts game nights, meets on Saturdays for “chat and caffs” at local coffeehouses and has monthly get-togethers to promote positive mental health. It also has a softball team, the Elgin Pride Cool Cats.

While the parade is a celebration, Hooker said it can also be a statement given the evolving political climate.

“With the recent change in administration and executive orders that came out, I think it’s really galvanized the LGBTQ community,” he said. “I think when legislators see people show up to events, they take notice of what their constituents want and what they don’t want.”