At a hiking and chili social event hosted by Lebanon Pride at Arrow Adventure on Feb 25, the business’s owner Niki Marengo noticed the effort participants made to attend.
“We had a child walk several miles just to attend this event, and another that teared up when she saw the drag queen,” Marengo said. “People might feel lonely in a town that isn’t really supportive.”
Lebanon sits as the county seat for Warren County, one of Ohio’s most conservative counties. On July 20, the city will be the setting of its first ever Pride festival, a full-day event to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. The planned event has faced criticism from some community members.
Lebanon Pride is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and the official host of the event. The organization formed in January 2023 after old high school friends Brooke Handley and James Reynolds reconnected over a video posted online of Reynolds.
“We were messaging back and forth, and [Reynolds] told me, ‘I don’t know how you still live there’,” said Handley. “I told him how we’re not all the same, and how I felt we had to stay here to usher in some change and do good things.”
Later in the conversation, Handley shared a vision she had for her hometown.
“I jokingly said how my dream is to have 100 drag queens parading up Broadway in Lebanon,” Handley said. “I was laughing and [Reynolds] said, ‘No, let’s do it.’ And Lebanon Pride was born.”
Reynolds, an openly gay former Lebanon resident, serves as chair for Lebanon Pride while Handley, a Lebanon resident and straight ally, serves as clerk/treasurer. Along with the rest of the Pride board, the duo has spent the past year advocating, recruiting and fundraising for the event.
During the organization’s pitch to Lebanon’s Board of Festivals and Tourism, organizers said the event will feature food trucks, craft vendors, a kid zone with face painting and a petting zoo, among other activities. According to Handley, the Pride festival was approved by a 3-2 margin.
“It’s really not going to be any different from any other festival we have in Lebanon,” Handley said. “It’s just going to be way more colorful with rainbows and all kinds of stuff. Three said yes, and that’s all we needed.”
Despite the organizers’ welcoming intentions, some community members have expressed disdain for the event on Lebanon Pride’s Facebook event as well as in other groups. Handley says she expects in-person protesters as well.
“Some other cities near us have had issues with a few organizations, and we’ve had our fair share of scripture thrown at us,” Handley said. “We fully anticipate it, and we’ll deal with it as it comes along.”
As of March 18, Lebanon Pride has raised over $33,000 toward funding the festival. Organizers hope to reach a goal of $50,000 in the next four months before the event.
“I just hope it’s overwhelmingly supportive and successful for them, and that it starts to turn the tide for what kind of community Lebanon is,” Marengo said.
For now, Handley and the other organizers plan to keep spreading the word and to keep working to make Lebanon more inclusive.
“It’s about people living their life and being who they are without fear of physical or emotional retribution,” Handley said. “We want people to stay here, and why would you not want people to stay, generate income tax and provide services to the community?”
