This year’s Frederick Pagan Pride Day is on Saturday, 27th, from 10 AM – 5 PM. As always, it takes a village to offer our annual outreach festival. We have a number of different volunteer roles which we need to fill throughout the day, which vary in terms of sitting, standing, and moving around, and Volunteer Coordinator Robyn will work with you to find times & roles if you have specific needs. All shifts will be for one hour at a time. It’s possible we may add a couple other roles but shifts should largely fall into these categories:
~ Donations table (Seated, recording donations as they come in)
~ Parking assistance (Standing/walking, will have radios)
~ Registration booth (Seated role)
~ Children’s Area
~ Concessions
~ First aid (Seated but also roaming “on-call” duty, will have radios. Certified individuals only)
~ General site & security team (Roaming duty, will have radios. Monitoring supplies, refilling water, responding if a security issue arises, etc.)
~ Close-down (starting around 6pm Saturday)
Whether you’re outgoing, detail-oriented, or just want to help out behind the scenes, there’s a role for you!
Frederick’s ninth Pagan Pride Day is slated for on Saturday, September 27th, 2025, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. People of all ages and spiritual backgrounds are welcome. The event will include information booths, workshops, live music, vendors and other activities celebrating the Autumn Equinox, a time of thanksgiving in many Pagan traditions.
Our event schedule is now live! This schedule is subject to change but should stay largely the same at this point in planning. Visit the Schedule page for descriptions of the various offerings.
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.
We are currently accepting workshop and ritual proposals for the 2025 Frederick Pagan Pride Day slated for Saturday, September 27th, with a rain date of Saturday, October 4th. This year’s themes are resilience and community care. If you are interested in offering a ritual or workshop, please fill out this form. We are accepting proposals til May 1st with a final selection by June 15th.
We are also currently booking entertainment. Please fill out this form if you are interested in being considered as a performer.
The Eighth Frederick Pagan Pride Day is in the books and I am once again trying to figure out how to put overwhelming gratitude into words. First, let’s talk about the donations! One of the most important things Frederick Pagan Pride does is share our community resources with our wider region in the form of a food drive for the Frederick Food Bank and a food and supply drive for the Frederick Animal Shelter. This year, attendees donated 615 pounds of food to the Frederick Food Bank and 393 pounds of food and supplies to the Frederick Animal Shelter. That’s a combined total of over a THOUSAND pounds of donations! This gift to our region is so important, especially as the colder days of winter appear on the horizon. THANK YOU for sharing your resources with some of the most needful in the Frederick area.
Our raffle raised $1265 in donations. That money goes toward next year’s Frederick Pagan Pride Day (portajohn rentals, shuttle service, entertainment budget, etc). Deep gratitude to everyone who contributed to the raffle.
This year’s Pride drew around 550 people! We are so grateful to everyone who came out to celebrate their Pagan Pride with us!
And speaking of gratitude, there is just so much….
…for the Volunteers. Frederick Pagan Pride Day really does take a village to put on. Our all-volunteer corps is around 30 people whose tasks range from planning the event for the months leading up to it to high-intensity shifts setting up, running registration, filling water stations, emptying trash cans, checking bathrooms, answering questions, treating (blessedly few) injuries, checking on vendors, running the sound system, cleaning up at the end of the night and so much more.
…for the Vendors and Booth sponsors. We know that part of why Frederick Pagan Pride Day is well attended is the shopping! Every year, we strive to offer a dynamic mix of artisans, purveyors of goods, and informational booths to our attendees. Our Vendors and Booth Sponsors travel to us, in many cases, from several states away. We are so grateful to all of you for sharing your work with us!
…for the Presenters, Ritual Leaders, and Entertainment! A festival is nothing without content and this year offered a great mix of traditions, information, encouragement, music, and connection. It takes a lot of work to prep an hour-long workshop, provide entertainment in the hot summer sun, or offer an opportunity for spiritual connection and devotion for a group of mostly unknown people. THANK YOU. Thank you so much for sharing your spirituality, expertise, guidance, talent, and leadership with us!
…for the weather! I spent the week leading up to Frederick Pagan Pride Day obsessing over weather maps, wondering whether the horrors that Hurricane Helene visited upon our southern brethren would kibosh the festival. Somehow, a day with rain in the forecast turned into a glorious, sunlit summer day. It feels almost like a dream given the cool, gray, rainy weather on either side of this past Saturday. I don’t even have the words for my gratitude for this small miracle. And, we all send our love and support to all those who lost so much to the hurricane.
…for Jeff! For the past nine years, Jeff has taken lead on volunteer coordination and the mechanics of running much of the day of the festival (Capricorns, amiright?). By taking on the leadership of volunteer coordination, it shifted a big pile of work off my plate. Although I am the visible “face” of Frederick Pagan Pride Day, my role is larger in the leading-up part of festival planning. Jeff has been such a blessing these past nine years. And, after an incredible donation of labor, service, laughter, and LONG hours, Jeff is stepping down and handing his giant ridiculous coordinator top hat off to Robyn. THANK YOU, JEFF. We couldn’t have done it without you. And, thank you Robyn for putting on the hat for next year!
The autumnal equinox is widely celebrated as Pagan Thanksgiving in our larger culture, and this Pagan Pride Day reminds me why the timing is so appropriate.
We give thanks! We give thanks! We give thanks!
Let’s do it again next year.
~Irene Glasse, lead Frederick Pagan Pride Day coordinator
Are you ready? The Eighth Frederick Pagan Pride Day is THIS SATURDAY from 10 AM to 6 PM at 4880 Elmer Derr Road in Frederick, MD. Right now, the weather forecast is holding for a mostly-clear day. Here are the things you should know to get the most out of your festival experience!
1) Carpool if you can! Parking gets tight at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick and the existing parking lot generally fills early. Should the parking lot become full, a shuttle service will be running from the Park and Ride located at the intersection of Cap Stine Road and Mount Zion Road (see map). If you have a group traveling together, please drop your folks off at the event site, then park your car and take the shuttle.
2) 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.
3) It’s been a wet week and the forecast is calling for a passing shower during the day. Our festival is OUTSIDE rain or shine. Please wear sturdy footwear and plan for damp ground and potential rainfall. Umbrellas and ponchos are a great idea.
4) There will be water filling stations, so a water bottle is also recommended. Remember to bring some money for our wonderful vendors and cash if you would like to enter the raffle ($2 each or 3 for $5). The raffle is CASH ONLY and includes incredible offerings like this gorgeous, enormous quartz cluster from Peridot!
See the full schedule here. See descriptions of the rituals and workshops here. See our vendor list (including food vendors) here. See the entertainment information here.
Frederick’s eighth Pagan Pride Day will be held on Saturday, September 28th, 2024, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick at 4880 Elmer Derr Road, Frederick, MD 21703. Should the parking lot become full, a shuttle service will be running from the Park and Ride located at the intersection of Cap Stine Road and Mount Zion Road. People of all ages and spiritual backgrounds are welcome. The event will include information booths, workshops, live music, vendors and other activities celebrating the Autumn Equinox, a time of thanksgiving in many Pagan traditions.
Map showing the festival’s location and the location of overflow parking and the shuttle stop.
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.
We recommend bringing a camp or other folding chair for attending the workshops and watching performances. There will be water filling stations, so a water bottle is also recommended. Remember to bring some money for our wonderful vendors, cash if you would like to enter the raffle ($2 each or 3 for $5), and sunblock/rain gear if you need it.
This year’s Frederick Pagan Pride Day is on Saturday, 28th, from 10 AM – 5 PM. As always, it takes a village to offer our annual outreach festival. We have a number of different volunteer roles which we need to fill throughout the day, which vary in terms of sitting, standing, and moving around, and Volunteer Coordinator Jeff will work with you to find times & roles if you have specific needs. Unfortunately, the Scouts did not respond to our inquiries this year so we will need to have some people to help with parking. All shifts will be for one hour at a time. It’s possible we may add a couple other roles but shifts should largely fall into these categories:
~ Site setup (Friday evening around 5-8 and/or Saturday morning starting at 8am sharp)
~ Donations table (Seated, recording donations as they come in)
~ Parking assistance (Standing, will have radios)
~ Registration booth (Seated role)
~ Vendor liaison (Walking role)
~ First aid (Seated but also roaming “on-call” duty, will have radios. Certified individuals only)
~ General site & security team (Roaming duty, will have radios. Monitoring supplies, refilling water, responding if a security issue arises, etc.)
~ Children’s area (This role does not exist every year, depending on capacity and interest)
The 8th Frederick Pagan Pride Day festival is on Saturday, September 28th, this year. It is a large gathering drawing upwards of 700 people and includes on-site parking. In past years, the festival has had scouting groups and similar organizations assist with parking as a fundraiser. If you are part of a group that is interested, please get in touch at FCUUPS(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, please feel free to circulate this information if you know of organizations looking for volunteering/fundraising opportunities.
Frederick’s eighth Pagan Pride Day will be held on Saturday, September 28th, 2024, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. People of all ages and spiritual backgrounds are welcome. The event will include information booths, workshops, live music, vendors and other activities celebrating the Autumn Equinox, a time of thanksgiving in many Pagan traditions.
This year’s schedule is, we believe, in final form. Descriptions of the workshops, rituals, and performances can be found here.
Frederick Pagan Pride Day 