New Hope Celebrates: The Magic of Pride

Walking through the streets of New Hope during Pride Week feels like slipping into a technicolor dream. Music spills from open doorways, rainbow flags flutter from storefronts and balconies, and parade-goers covered head to toe in glamour and sparkle saunter through this river town with the unmistakable air of people who are exactly where they belong. For the tens of thousands of visitors who flock to New Hope each May, the exuberant joy and spectacle can feel like pure magic.

But magic like this does not happen on its own. Even before the glitter has been swept from the streets and the last tourist has headed home, organizers are already thinking about next year’s event.

“Pride is on our minds all year long, but the real planning starts in November,” says Melissa Patterson, board president of New Hope Celebrates. “By January, we really hit the ground running.”

Crossing Into Joy

Because this parade is the only well-known Pride parade that crosses state lines, the logistics are even more complicated. The board spends the months leading up to Pride Week filing permits in both states, arranging road closures, securing noise permits, and coordinating with the bridge commission.

Even something as simple as hanging the Pride flag for the event kickoff requires extensive coordination. “Just to hang the flag, we have to get a certificate of insurance and attend the borough meeting to get it approved,” Patterson says. “I do not think people are aware of how much thought has to go into every detail of the event.”

Under ideal circumstances, coordinating Pride Week is an enormous undertaking, and when unexpected obstacles arise, organizers must adapt quickly.

For example, in one recent year, ongoing bridge construction forced organizers to make contingency plans. “One lane of the bridge was completely off-limits, so we had to figure out how to get the floats through,” says Rich Lucarini, the organization’s vice president of finance. “We even talked about using boats at some point.”

Ultimately, the easiest solution was to require narrower floats, but the decision caused a great deal of stress for the board. “We all had minor coronaries,” Patterson jokes.

While the efforts that go into planning the parade are significant, organizers say it is all worth it for the moment when the parade steps over the bridge from Lambertville, New Jersey, into New Hope. “That feeling of crossing the bridge is just so intense,” Patterson says. “While you are walking across, everything sort of slows down and gets quiet. But then when you step onto the other side, there is the huge banner and just a sea of people waiting for you and cheering, and it just feeds your soul with hope.”

Organizers say that the walk over the bridge is a symbolic representation of a very real unity. “It is technically two different states, but it is all one big community,” Patterson says. “We could not do this without each other.”

An All-Volunteer Effort

Although the parade may be the most iconic part of Pride Week, it is only a small portion of the celebration. The event also includes a wide variety of offerings, including the Pride Fair, Pride Bingo, and the Love Is Love Gala. Each of these events takes extensive planning to ensure everything runs smoothly.

All the planning is done exclusively by the 11-member board. “Something that people do not realize is that we are an all-volunteer board,” Patterson says. “We do everything from top to bottom.”

Board members say they often devote hundreds of hours a month leading up to Pride Week. “We all have full-time jobs, so we work all day and then spend our nights on Pride,” says board member Jaye McNeill. “There was a time when we were meeting almost every night after 11 p.m. on Zoom.”

The committee’s work does not stop with Pride Week. Throughout the year, the board meets to raise money and plan events such as the High Heel Drag Race, cocktail parties, and queer family nights, each of which requires significant effort and time—yet they keep showing up to help.

Though the board works tirelessly, members are quick to point out the larger network that helps bring Pride Week to life. “We feel so much community support,” Patterson says. “Whether it is the volunteers, business owners, mayor, or police chief, whatever you ask for, they help make it happen.”

More Than a Party

For the members of New Hope Celebrates’ board, the reasons for volunteering are as varied as the community they serve, but nearly all of them center on preserving the spirit of this town and making sure everyone feels welcome.

For Patterson, that means protecting the openness and inclusivity that define New Hope.

“I think it is very important for us to make sure that the place where we live and spend time is diverse, open, and safe,” she says. “Pride is not just accepted here, it is celebrated. It is the most community I have ever felt anywhere I have ever lived.”

McNeill finds their work rooted in advocacy. “I volunteer because it is important to me to speak for those parts of the community that do not always have a voice,” they say.

Ryan Segura, vice president of events, says he joined the organization after realizing that celebrations like Pride Week only happen when people are willing to put in the work behind the scenes. By being a part of New Hope’s celebration, he wants to ensure all members of the LGBTQ+ community have a space where they feel welcome and events that speak to them. He adds that some of the money the board raises quietly goes to specific members of the community who need assistance. “It is the most worthwhile thing I have ever done,” he says.

The mission is also about preserving New Hope’s identity and history. Lucarini sees Pride Week as a way to celebrate and sustain New Hope’s special vibe. “I want to make sure we keep the funkiness and artiness alive in New Hope so it does not get whitewashed into just another suburban town,” he says.

The Big Day Arrives

The decision to hold Pride Week in May rather than during the traditional June celebrations was a result of the rich connection to the New Hope community. McNeill explains that the unorthodox scheduling is a tribute to the beloved drag queen Mother, who is an integral part of New Hope’s history. “Mother was so important to the community for a thousand different reasons, and so we start on Mother’s Day weekend in Mother’s honor,” they say.

This year, on May 9, after months of planning and coordinating, long nights, and time away from family, Pride Week began, grand marshaled by the exiting producing director of Bucks County Playhouse, Alex Fraser, and his husband, Peter Maloney. Volunteers arrived as early as 6 a.m. to set up, and vendors organized their displays. Board members said goodbye to their families and settled into their designated areas where they spent 15 to 16 hours each day during the festival ensuring events ran smoothly.

At the end of the week, they all headed home, looking forward to a brief period of rest before the planning starts again.

Though visitors may come to New Hope for the glamour and spectacle of Pride Week, the real magic lies in the strength of the people behind the pageantry. Bringing the event to the community doesn’t just shower joy on attendees; it imparts a sense of happiness and satisfaction to the committee members who help plan it.

For Segura and many other volunteers, Pride Week is a reminder that no man is an island. “I have had so many personal losses, but I do not feel like I am alone,” Segura says. “I have the most amazing support system, and it is pretty much all due to getting involved with this organization.”

Lela Casey has been writing professionally for over 15 years. She and her family live in Doylestown.

Photograph by Juan Vidal Photography