For Mandy Lohrman, 42, of Oswego, attending a Pride parade is about demonstrating to members of the LGBTQ+ community that they’re safe. This was her first parade, and she came with her husband and her daughter, Nola, 11.
“Even just wearing the rainbow and everything, I mean, it sounds like such a simple thing,” she said as this year’s Aurora Pride Parade was wrapping up on Sunday. “But to show people that they’re safe with you. … Everybody should be allowed to feel comfortable.”
On Sunday afternoon, members of the LGBTQ+ community, their families and allies gathered in downtown Aurora for the city’s sixth annual Pride Parade.
The Aurora Pride Parade has taken place yearly since 2018, aside from two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is put on by the Aurora Pride organization, according to past reporting.
This year’s parade was set to feature between 60 and 70 marching groups, and the organization’s president, Gwyn Ciesla, previously said the event typically draws between 5,000 and 6,000 spectators. The parade used to be organized by Indivisible Aurora, which Ciesla was a part of, but Aurora Pride split off as its own entity in 2019 and continued to host the parade, per its website.
A big focus of the parade is for the annual event to be family-friendly, Ciesla said.
“Nothing you wouldn’t want your 4-year-old niece to see,” Ciesla said. “People have been really respectful of that, and it’s been great.”
This year’s grand marshals for the parade, according to Aurora Pride’s Facebook page, were: Corvin Ezri, founder of The Prideful Path Project; Aleyna Couture, a local drag queen known for her role in west suburban nightlife and mentorship within the local drag community; and Paulene Spika, a 71-year-old transgender woman who serves on the Aurora LGBTQ+ Advisory Board.
On Sunday, a variety of groups came out to march in the parade: local LGBTQ+ school groups, area churches, elected officials and political advocacy groups. The Chicago Pride Guard performed, and several of the parade’s sponsors — such as Pace Suburban Bus, ComEd and VCA Animal Hospitals — also showed up in support.
Ciesla said the biggest difference this year was that some businesses pulled out their marching units or declined to sponsor the parade as they had in previous years, which Ciesla attributes to an “increasingly hostile political climate.” The parade still had more interested marching groups than they could accept, though Ciesla said they were also down some volunteers this year.
“In years’ past, Pride was a big thing, and you could go to any store and see how much … the (LGBTQ+) community was supported,” said League of Women Voters Aurora Area Chapter President Tania Traverso, who was gathered before the parade stepped off with some members of the League of Women Voters of Central Kane County. “And it just seems like people are so fearful. … We need to speak with one voice.”
Parade onlookers echoed similar sentiments about the importance of Pride parades amid threats to LGBTQ+ individuals under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“I feel like people who are against Pride and against (the LGBTQ+ community) are much louder nowadays than they used to be,” said Kristin Millard, 29, of Plano, who works with the LGBTQ+ support club at Waubonsee Community College. “So it’s important for us to be even louder, too.”
Sunday’s parade was not the only Pride-related event going on in the area. The day before, the city’s LGBTQ Advisory Board planned Pride at the Plaza, which was set to feature live music, a drag show, food trucks and booths from community organizations. And, following the parade, Aurora Pride also planned an after-party at the Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora, per a post from the group’s Facebook page.
However, this year, Aurora Mutual Aid did not host its annual CommUNITY Market, which is typically held in concurrence with the parade. The organization’s executive director Luma Webster told The Beacon-News that they did not have sufficient volunteer capacity to plan and manage the event. In a statement on the organization’s Facebook page, Aurora Mutual Aid said it was “not off the table to bring the market back in 2026.”
But, as for Sunday, parade-goers spoke favorably of this year’s event.
“It was the best parade I’ve ever been to,” said Sharon Janus, 67, of St. Charles, who attended with her husband, Bruce, 75. “I got goosebumps and I wanted to cry, because I felt so joyful for everybody that was here. I feel like they probably felt really safe here, you know, because look at all the people that came to stand by them.”
The couple said they attend rallies, but this was their first Pride parade. They said they have a niece who’s a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
“There was nothing but love in the air. … Seeing all the faces of little kids, and just everybody showing love,” Bruce Janus said. “It’s what this country needs right now.”
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
