By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Lowcountry Pride held its annual Lowcountry Pride Festival in Port Royal for the first time on Saturday, Nov. 18.
Angela Wright, co-chair of Lowcountry Pride, a group focused on a safe, supportive and empowering environment for the local LGBTQ+ community, said that the first festival was held in 2019 in Bluffton but moved to Port Royal this year because this is where most of the sponsorships were.
Wright said they estimated between 800 and 1,000 people were going to come and said that she is pretty sure they got close to that number, if not surpassed it.
“This is probably our second biggest Pride (Festival),” Wright said. “Other than our first festival in 2019.”
Lowcountry Pride primarily serves Beaufort County, but Wright said that Jasper County does not have a Pride Festival either, so the Port Royal location seems to be a good central location for all of Beaufort and Jasper counties.
The festival, which was held at Live Oaks Park in Port Royal, saw hundreds of people come out and enjoy the local vendors, music, and food.
The biggest highlight of the day for Wright was all the positive feedback that they received.
“Everyone’s been very happy with this,” Wright said. “It seems to be exceeding expectations, and we’re really glad to hear that.”
Wright said that she wishes that there were not protesters but was grateful that the ones that did show up were not disruptive to the festival.
As for next year, Wright said the most common feedback she received from this year’s festival goers was they wish there was a parade.
Delayna Earley formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
