Parade participants and viewers take to heart this year’s event theme ‘Lead With Love’
Almost halfway through Pride Month, which June is designated as for the LBGTQIA+ community, Solvang was again the site for the fourth annual SYV Pride Parade on Saturday, June 14.
The parade was again put on by SYV Pride with the 2025 theme “Lead With Love.” The local organization describes itself as “the first registered 501(c)3 nonprofit in the Santa Ynez Valley dedicated to supporting and celebrating the local LGBTQIA+ community.”
The parade led off by highlighting the “rainbow” theme with vehicle carrying local dignitaries — like Buellton Mayor David Silva and Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, among others — all a different color. After them a few more colorful vehicles and float followed the parade path down Alisal Road, through Copenhagen Drive (where most of the parade viewers were situated), then to 2nd Street and Oak Street back to Alisal.
Alyce Barrick, co-owner of Queen Cup Coffee in Santa Ynez and vice president of the SYV Pride Board, is pleased to see how the event has lasted and evolved.
“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” she said after the parade. “Just today, going down Alisal I was worried the turnout might drop off from last year, but then we turned onto Copenhagen and the sidewalks were packed with people; it was a great thing to see.”
Lauren Lastra, SYV Pride Board present and founding member, said as the parade, Pride Festival, and other events this month continue to affirm themselves as local June staples, more support will be easier to come by.
“Mainly, this organization and event is all volunteer; we rely on the volunteers’ work and donations from the area,” she said. “For this year, we were able to get a huge private grants to help us out, and continue to get more established, we hope we can get even more private donations.”
As Barrick noted, most of the parade viewers were concentrated on Copenhagen Drive. Among them was the Morgan family — Andrew and Micaela and their children Xabelle and Lorenzo. The Morgans have been regular visitors to the parade.
“We’ve been to this all four years,” Micaela Morgan said. “We like to impress upon the kids on inclusivity and tolerance, which is especially important this year.”
The last comment may have referred to the controversy and protests in Los Angeles over federal immigration raids, and that fact that June 14 was also the day of the “No Kings” protests all over the nation.
Many in the parade gave a nod to those protests in Solvang, some with signs like “No Kings, just Queens,” and similar messages among the parade route.
After the parade, the SYV Pride Festival was held at Solvang Park, where food and drink, as well as a kids area with bounce houses, and several booths offering products and services for those in the LGBTQIA+ community.
At the park, the crowd got to hear addresses from Silva, Hartmann, and Lastra. Silva, who last year announced his candidacy for the mayor’s seat in Buellton, this year came to his first Pride Parade as the actual mayor after winning the election last November.
“I remember as a kid thinking I would never see an openly gay person becoming the mayor of Buellton, and now here I am as the mayor,” Silva said to cheers from the crowd.
Other organizations with a presence included the Allan Hancock College Gay Straight Alliance; Free Mom Hugs, offering hugs for those people seeking a moment of comfort and support, with a “lounge” set up for people to relax; and a booth for the Santa Barbara chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).
Georgia Noble and Gary Welterlen manned the PFLAG booth, and Noble explained how the group worked.
“We take people who are struggling with the acceptance, because it’s a process,” she said. “We take people where they are, and create a safe space, and then do a lot of educating.”
Noble said she’s been with PFLAG for 11 years now; she got involved with the group when her son came out as gay.
“My son was in the gay men’s choir and took me to a rehearsal,” she said. “The members thanked me for being there, because a lot of parents had rejected them, and then I had the choir sing this Irish blessing, and I wept through the whole thing. And that’s when I decided to get involved.”
