THANK YOU and festival wrap-up

Posted on September 16, 2019 by ireneglasse

Photo by Shannon

It’s hard to know where to begin! I’ll start with the practical:

If you have photos from the 2019 Frederick Pagan Pride Day that you would be willing to share, please drop me a line here at the facebook page or at frederickpaganpride(at)gmail(dot)com. We would be happy to give credit or not, whichever you prefer.

Our final tallies for the day: this year’s festival drew roughly 650 people to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick. We raised 1635.25 pounds of food for The Frederick Food Bank and another 257 pounds of pet food and other supplies for the Adoption Center at Frederick County Animal Control. For those of you playing along at home, that is nearly DOUBLE last year’s donations. THANK YOU for your generosity. The best kind of magick is the kind that helps ease suffering for the spirits who most need it – you made some unbelievable magick yesterday!

Food donations at the Frederick Food Bank

Pet food and supply donations at the Adoption Center

There are so many people I want to thank! Our presenters and performers, who utterly outdid themselves. Our ritual leaders, who offered different tastes of the many spiritual paths within Paganism. Our incredible community sponsors who made this festival possible through their generous donations. Our vendors, who made the shopping experience at Frederick Pagan Pride absolutely unreal. Our guests! It’s no good putting on a festival if no one comes out to enjoy it. Thank you for visiting us, for sharing your time, energy, magick and enthusiasm. You make Frederick Pagan Pride Day the joy that it is, and I am grateful beyond words to you.

And there is one group I want to hold high for a moment. It is impossible to convey in words how much goes into hosting a festival – we begin planning in January. The staff of Frederick Pagan Pride Day includes more than 30 people and every single one of them is absolutely vital. For many of us, the festival is one of the most joyous, but also longest, days of the year. My staff works HARD. It is my deep hope that they are all home and resting today, and staying off their feet. The staff does jobs that range from managing parking to registration to roaming security to acting as liaisons with various other groups at the festival to answering questions to emptying trash cans and refilling toilet paper to set up and tear down….it’s so much. I am so proud of my staff that it’s hard to talk about it without starting to cry. I love them all dearly, and I wish I could show you the thousands of things they do to make our festival run smoothly. They are the heart and soul of Frederick Pagan Pride Day.

In particular, I would like to honor Jeff, my event manager. This is the first year that someone stepped up to shoulder a large portion of the logistics. Jeff has been working for months to manage the staffing of a large, complex festival, and he knocked it out of the park. His work meant that this year, our largest thus far, was also the least stressful for me personally out of the last five. I am grateful beyond words for his work.

One of the things that is staying with me this year was how many people told me how good the energy of the festival was – how warm and welcome, joyous and generous everything felt. I think that may be what I’m most proud of this year. It means that the Beloved Community I am working to foster through Frederick CUUPS is quite real, and it is growing.

At the very end of the day, as the vendors were tearing down and the festival infrastructure was being disassembled, we had a round of unexpected guests. As I came back around the corner of the building to the event field, I was greeted by an astonishing spectacle – thousands of dragon flies had appeared out of nowhere. They dived and darted and danced in the air, causing everyone who had been working to pause and marvel at the sight of them. Dragonflies are associated with joy, and with living in the moment. Their presence was the most amazing gift from the Spirits. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

We are planning our 6th Annual Pagan Pride Day, the 2020 festival, to be on Saturday, September 12th. I hope you will join us. Work will begin on the festival over the winter. Please get in touch if you’d like to be part of that process.

As ever, I remain grateful and honored to guide the path of Frederick Pagan Pride Day. I am so proud of all of us.

In service,

Irene Glasse
FPPD Lead Organizer

Mobile-Friendly Program and Other Info

Posted on September 9, 2019 by ireneglasse

Check out the mobile version of our program! You can save it to your phone by adding it to your home screen!

Or, download a mobile-friendly version of the program here and help us reduce our environmental impact! Mobile Program 2019

The 5th Annual Frederick Pagan Pride Day is THIS SATURDAY, September 14th, from 10 am to 6 pm and we are SO EXCITED!!!! Every year, people ask us what to bring. We do have a few suggestions: your sealed, non-perishable donation to The Foodbank Program or Frederick County Animal Control, a water bottle to fill at our water stations, a folding camp chair, sunblock if it’s sunny out, rain gear if rain is in the forecast, cash for raffle tickets ($3 each or 2 for $5) and vendors, and a notebook and something to write with. We’re looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!!

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.

2019 Flyers are here!

Posted on August 12, 2019 by ireneglasse

Please help us get the word out about the 5th Annual Frederick Pagan Pride Day on Saturday, September 14th, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.! Here are the flyers. One is in color and one is in black and white. If you are able to, please download, print them out and hang them up!

BW FPPD 2019 Flyer

FPPD 2019 Flyer FINAL

Here they are as images:

Frederick Pagan Pride Day 2019 Vendor, Workshop, Entertainment and Ritual forms are UP!!

Posted on February 18, 2019 by ireneglasse

The Fifth Annual Frederick Pagan Pride Day will be Saturday, September 14th, 2019. 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 2019 FPPD that is not listed above, please feel free to contact us at frederickpaganpride@gmail.com

Frederick Pagan Pride Day Flyers

Posted on July 11, 2016 by ireneglasse

Looking for a great way to help promote the upcoming Frederick Pagan Pride Day? You can ‘like’ the facebook page and share out some of its content, volunteer by either joining the volunteer group on facebook or emailing us at frederickpaganpride@gmail.com or help out by printing out and hanging up flyers! There are three versions below – simply choose the one that will print the best with your printer and where you’d like to put the flyer out, download it, print it out and hang it up!

There will also be color flyers available for pickup soon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick (in the Spiritual Enrichment Cabinet).

Full Page Color Flyer – great for high-quality printers

Full Page Black and White Flyer – great for all printers

Black and White Quarter Sheets – four flyers per page, fantastic for adding to crowded community bulletin boards, handing out at events or adding to bags

Frederick Pagan Pride Day flyer

Posted on July 14, 2015 by ireneglasse

Looking for a great way to help promote the upcoming Frederick Pagan Pride Day? You can ‘like’ the facebook page and share out some of its content, volunteer by either joining the volunteer group on facebook or emailing us at frederickpaganpride@gmail.com or help out by printing out and hanging up flyers! There are two versions below – simply choose the one that will print the best with your printer, download it, print it out and hang it up!

Coming Out of the Broom Closet on Pagan Pride Day

Posted on January 22, 2015 by ireneglasse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Frederick, MD – Frederick’s very first Pagan Pride Day will be held on Saturday, September 12, 2015 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. An item of non-perishable food will be accepted as admission and donated to The Foodbank Program operated by the Frederick Community Action Agency.

The International Pagan Pride Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of prejudice and religious discrimination through education, activism, charity and community. Pagan Pride celebrations are held annually around the world within two weeks of the Autumn Equinox. In 2013, there were 98 Pagan Pride events across the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Rome and Austria. 2013 event attendance was 65,717: an increase in attendance by over 20,000 when compared to 2012. The events collected a total of 39,962.80 pounds of nonperishable food.

The food drive gives participants a way to share with those who are less fortunate while making a positive statement about Paganism. For decades Pagans have been wrongly accused of practicing devil-worship and performing “black magic.” In reality most Pagans enjoy a religion emphasizing respect for nature, humanity, and oneself. Modern Paganism, or Neo-Paganism, is a growing religious movement based on combinations of ancient polytheism, modern eco-spirituality, and reverence for the Divine as both masculine and feminine.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick is located at 4880 Elmer Derr Road. Frederick Pagan Pride is hosted by Frederick CUUPS (Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans). For more information about the event or about Pagan religions, email Irene Glasse at frederickpaganpride@gmail.com. Additional information regarding Pagan Pride Day is located at https://www.facebook.com/FrederickPaganPride.