We are so excited for the 5th Annual Frederick Pagan Pride Day on Saturday, September 14th, 2019!! A few notes:
Admission is a donation to one of two organizations we are supporting this year. You are welcome to bring an item of non-perishable commercially prepared food (no home canned goods, unfortunately) for The Foodbank Program operated by the Frederick Community Action Agency. This year, Frederick Pagan Pride Day is also supporting Frederick County Animal Control. Donations for the Adoption Center can also be given as admission. FCAC is requesting UNOPENED PACKAGES of canned food of any variety, dry food (Iams is preferred, but they will take any sort), bleach, sponges and Dawn dish soap. Other pet supplies are welcome, but must be UNOPENED.
Parking will be available on-site as well as at two overflow lots. Shuttle Service will be running from the Park and Ride lots at the intersection of Elmer Derr Road. The shuttle will run from 9:30 am to 6 pm. Please consider carpooling as well.
Volunteers are needed for the day. Please contact us at frederickpaganpride(at)gmail(dot)com to volunteer!
Vendor Village is no longer taking applications – we are now full. Vendor forms go online in January and we are generally sold out by August 1st. If you would like to vend at the 2020 festival, please plan to register in the spring.
Whew!! What a day! Before I get into the MASSIVE list of thank-yous, a quick request – if you have photos from the 4th Annual Frederick, MD, Pagan Pride Day, and would not mind us adding them to our photo album (with credit, of course!), please message this account or send them to frederickpaganpride(at)gmail(dot)com.
Every year after FPPD, I find myself utterly overwhelmed with gratitude. On my way home from the festival yesterday, I almost started crying behind the wheel because of the sheer scale of gratitude welling within my heart.
We raised 823.11 pounds of food for the Frederick Food Bank. We have a huge pile of donations for the Adoption Center at Frederick County Animal Control. And over 550 people came through the doors yesterday. As I said during Kindred Crow’s set, remember – you are NOT alone. When you are feeling overwhelmed, or isolated, or like a single fiber of strangeness and magick in the tapestry of our greater culture, remember the festival. There are a LOT of us. And we are amazing.
Thank you for coming out to celebrate your Pagan Pride with us yesterday! A festival isn’t much fun to create without guests. Thank you for sharing your Paths/Traditions, your laughter, your time and your energy with us! It was an honor to host you.
I have a few folks I would like to honor. First, my co-coordinators – Top Hat Jeff, my on-site lead, and Kim, my schedule lead and site vendor liaison. Without these two wonderful humans, I would be a frazzled mess. Also, my beloved Chris, who along with running sound and having the same day-of hours I do, puts up with all my pre-FPPD insanity with his usual kindness and warmth. Michelle, who runs sound with Chris AND chases me around, makes sure I’ve eaten, and is otherwise my better angel at large Frederick CUUPS events. Charles, who was incredibly helpful in resolving some parking issues this year along with all his other duties. Ashley and Andrea, the delightful (and sometimes naughty) faeries who run Children’s Programming. Third, the incredible crew of FPPD. We number around 30, all told. And this hard-working, cooperative, kind, funny, creative crew absolutely blew me away this year. They worked their butts off – we have meetings in advance of the festival, email chains, a Friday night setup and a day that starts at 8 a.m. the day of the festival and does not generally end until 8 p.m. that night. I am honored to call these wonderful folks my friends and teammates.
I am grateful to all the people who were NOT on the volunteer team who still stepped in to help with running (and especially cleaning up after) the festival – Josey & Company, the ShadowGrove community, Suzanne, Rath and many others who I apologize for not naming here (I’m exhausted – forgive my shaky memory).
I would also like to extend deep gratitude to Tamara and Niall, who stepped up at the last minute to lead workshops!
Thank you to our amazing Vendors! We pride ourselves on offering the best Pagan shopping in the region, and you all really pulled out the stops this year. Thank you for your flexibility around the weather and dealing with a shifting logistical plan as the hurricane drew near the east coast.
Thank you to the groups who brought their Traditions, Paths, Covens and other organizations to share with us!
Next year’s festival is currently slated for Saturday, September 14th, 2019. We will begin planning it in January, and it will be our FIFTH YEAR!! If you are interested in becoming a part of the festival, please drop me a line at frederickpaganpride(at)gmail(dot)com
As ever, I am so honored, so grateful, so utterly overwhelmed to somehow have the pleasure of overseeing and organizing our annual gathering. Thank you for everything, my friends.
Frederick, MD, Pagan Pride Day is very fortunate in terms of our location. In the event of heavy rain, we will move the entire festival inside the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick (4880 Elmer Derr Road – same location as the festival, just inside the building). We will make a final call on whether we will be indoors or outdoors on Friday morning and will post about it on all our media – this website, our Facebook page, the Frederick CUUPS Facebook page, and the Facebook event.
The first graphic below is the outdoor plan. The image below it is the indoor plan.
Admission to The 4th Annual Frederick Pagan Pride Day is a donation to one of two charities we are supporting this year. You are welcome to bring an item of non-perishable commercially prepared food (no home canned goods, unfortunately) for The Foodbank Program operated by the Frederick Community Action Agency. This year, Frederick Pagan Pride Day is also supporting the Adoption Center at Frederick County Animal Control, Maryland. FCAC is requesting canned food of any variety, dry food (Iams is preferred, but they will take any sort), bleach, sponges and Dawn dish soap.
Frederick CUUPS has the great honor of hosting and managing the region’s annual Pagan Pride Gathering. This will be our fourth year! Last year, slightly over 500 people attended. The festival is a ton of fun – it’s a full day of workshops, rituals, vendors, music and merriment. But, like all really wonderful events, it takes a village to run it smoothly. We are looking for volunteers to help with this year’s event. There are two windows of time in which we volunteer: there’s a setup the evening before (Friday, September 14th) to put up the pavilions, mark out vendor spaces, place tables, etc. The day of Frederick Pagan Pride Day (Saturday, September 15th), we have shifts starting at 8 am and ending at 8 pm. We will need the most help from 8 to 10 am (loading vendors in and getting set up) and 6 to 8 pm (loading vendors out and breaking down all the festival infrastructure). During the day, we have shifts at the Welcome Booth, General Site (roaming security), Parking Guides and Event Field (helping with workshops, rituals, etc). Shifts vary in time from half an hour to up to two hours depending on the role being filled. If you would like to volunteer, email frederickpaganpride(at)gmail(dot)com.
After the incredible generosity and kindness of everyone who attended the 2017 Frederick Pagan Pride Day, the staff thought we would expand the web to reach more beings in need – specifically the four-legged kind. This year, admission to Frederick Pagan Pride Day is a donation to one of two organizations we are supporting. You are welcome to bring an item of non-perishable commercially prepared food (no home canned goods, unfortunately) for The Foodbank Program operated by the Frederick Community Action Agency. This year, Frederick Pagan Pride Day is also supporting the Adoption Center at Frederick County Animal Control. FCAC is requesting canned food of any variety, dry food (Iams is preferred, but they will take any sort), bleach, sponges and Dawn dish soap.
Want to help promote Frederick Pagan Pride Day? Here are some printable flyers for the festival! Click on the flyer you would like to print to download the image at full size.
The Fourth Annual Frederick Pagan Pride Day will be Saturday, September 15th, 2018. We are currently accepting applications for the event. If you are interested in participating as part of FPPD, please click on the link below that applies to you.
If you have something you would like to contribute to the 2018 FPPD that is not listed above, please feel free to contact us at frederickpaganpride@gmail.com
Every Friday in December, we will give away one pair of tickets for the masquerade ball. If you win them, you can either use them yourself, or gift them to a friend! To enter, SHARE this graphic. Make sure you do it publicly, or we won’t be able to see the post. Then, COMMENT on the graphic and tell us your favorite faery or fantasy creature.
Every Friday, we will randomly select one name and award tickets. And YES, you can enter more than once!
Ready…set…go!
A Midwinter Night’s Dream Masquerade Ball and Pagan Pride Day Fundraiser Buy Tickets Here
Saturday, January 6th, 2018 (snow date of Saturday, February 10th)
Join Frederick CUUPS for a Masquerade Ball as we dance into the night with the Winter Court of Faerie, rulers of the dark season! Please come in a wintry costume as we revel and celebrate the darkest time of the year with the Good Folk of the Winter Court.
Faery and Fantasy Attire, Masks or Elaborate Makeup Encouraged
8 pm – 1 am, 21+, BYOB
No entry after 10 pm
Tickets are $35 in advance
$40 at the door, if any tickets remain
Frederick Pagan Pride Day 2017 raised 573.16 lbs of food for The Frederick Food Bank!
It is an amazing thing to watch a festival grow; to start as a tiny seed of an idea, to show its first tender shoots and leaves and then to watch it bear better and stronger fruit with every passing harvest. Like any living spirit, what you sow and how you care for that life greatly influences the fruit you later harvest, and Frederick Pagan Pride Day is no exception. As ever, I am so overwhelmed with gratitude to so many people for an almost unbelievable amount of energy, time, love and dedication to our festival.
First, and always, I am so grateful to the incredible team of volunteers who come together to serve the community through Frederick Pagan Pride Day. This amazing group of people coordinate throughout the year (and especially during the run-up to September) to create, nurture and support a day of Pagan fun in the sun. They came for setup on Friday night, arrived early Saturday morning, and didn’t leave till dusk Saturday night. It is a LOT of work, and Frederick Pagan Pride Day is incredibly blessed to have such wonderful folks invested in making this event happen. It is my hope that our team got to take it easy today – they definitely earned it. Remember, the volunteers of Frederick Pagan Pride Day throw a party they don’t get to attend – rather than go to the workshops, rituals and performances, they direct traffic, run the registration booth, refill water stations, check the bathrooms and grounds…they make Frederick Pagan Pride Day the safe, sacred space it is, and they choose to do so instead of all the fun things that draw us to a festival. I am always overwhelmed by that kind of dedication, that kind of work and sacrifice for our Tribe, our wonderful, diverse family of Paths. It is an incredible offering, and I get teary just thinking about it.
Opening Ritual at Frederick Pagan Pride Day 2017
Secondly, an enormous thanks to our workshop presenters, ritual leaders and performers. All the work of the staff of Frederick Pagan Pride Day comes to nothing without content. I am so grateful to the members of our Pagan family who chose to share their wisdom, gifts, talents and vision with us. Their contributions filled our village-for-a-day with love, joy and beauty. Deep gratitude to our ritual groups: the opening ritual was led by Frederick CUUPS members and volunteers. Our Mabon ritual was led by the Proto-Demos Potomac Valley Palladium of Hellenion and our closing ritual was led by Hallowed Ground of ADF.
Deep gratitude to our keynote speaker and workshop presenters! Hail to Gwendolyn Reece, Michael Smith, Tracy L. Wright, Rachel Elizabeth, Lora Powell-Haney and our Children’s Area coordinators Andrea LaVertu and Ashley Samantha Finucane! You brought so much illumination with you into our festival – you are such a gift to this Tribe! I hope you know how loved you are, and how respected your Work is.
Deep gratitude to our performers: Stephen Darnell and Sea Raven, the other members of Kindred Crow, and Pyrophoric. Thank you for sharing your light, laughter and incredible gifts with us.
Third to our vendors and groups! I was simply overwhelmed by the variety and quality of your incredible offerings. Thank you for traveling to Frederick to offer your goods to the Tribe! We loved having you as our Festival Family, and hope you will return again, year after year.
The Village at Frederick Pagan Pride Day 2017
Thank you to all the local organizations and groups who came out to share your Paths with us! Part of what I love most about the Pagan community is our diversity, and I am so grateful to you for showcasing that so perfectly.
Fourth, to our sponsors. Festival infrastructure is not free, and we are so grateful for all the help. Four Quarters Farm, The Dapper DJs and Naimah and Troupe Amandari – we quite literally could not have done this without you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Lastly, and most importantly, to the community. Yes, you. Thank you for coming to Frederick Pagan Pride Day. Thank you for bringing the best of yourself, for wearing your spirituality on your sleeve, for sharing your time, energy and excitement with us. You are why we do this. Thank you for coming together as one Blessed Community, one Tribe, one People.
Sea Raven and Stephen Darnell performing at Frederick Pagan Pride Day 2017
Our Tribe was around 500 people yesterday (we physically counted 480, but during the day’s peak, a lot of people bypassed the welcome booth). We raised over 573 pounds of food for the Frederick Food Bank. That’s over a pound of food per person that will help people right here, in our own community. That’s some amazing magick, my friends. It’s incredible what we can accomplish together.
I love you all so much. I am grateful beyond words. And I can’t wait till next year. If you would like to be a part of our team, please email info@frederickcuups.com.
The 2018 Frederick Pagan Pride Day will be on Saturday, September 15th. Frederick CUUPS hosts A Midwinter Night’s Dream Masquerade Ball (also known as Pagan Prom) on Saturday, January 6th, to benefit Frederick Pagan Pride Day. Attending the ball is not only fun, it supports next year’s PPD! And as always, Frederick CUUPS offers programming throughout the year – monthly Earth Centered Spirituality Services, Full Moon Labyrinth Walks, High Holiday Rituals, workshops and courses. Here’s a link if you’re interested in learning more.
Which leads me to all the presenters, performers and ritual leaders who brought their wisdom, talents and connection to our festival. To 
Thank you to our amazing Vendors! We pride ourselves on offering the best Pagan shopping in the region, and you all really pulled out the stops this year. Thank you for your flexibility around the weather and dealing with a shifting logistical plan as the hurricane drew near the east coast.
The second annual 
A Midwinter Night’s Dream
Frederick Pagan Pride Day 