What Pride means to people celebrating in Montrose
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MONTROSE, Colo. — “I used to just attend Pride, and it gave me the courage to be more outspoken and become more myself. I think Pride is iconic. I think it's absolutely necessary,” said Bellamy Romanova as he waited to perform on the amphitheater stage at Cerise Park during Montrose Pride Saturday, June 7.
Romanova performed in a drag show at the event as Craven Moore Romanova. The lineup included first-time performers and a well known Colorado Drag Queen, Hysteria Brooks.
“It's nice to walk on the same grass that I grew up on and be actually me, actually recognize myself in the mirror and express the thing that's true instead of fake,” said Romanova, who is transgender. He felt isolated growing up, but since producing drag shows around the Western Slope over the last year — and returning to the stage — he’s confident celebrating Pride.
“Joy is resistance, and now that I'm not scared to be joyful about who I am, I want to be even more outspoken and not hidden,” said Romanova.
The celebration in Montrose comes a few weeks before Denver PrideFest, the largest Pride celebration in Colorado. The Denver celebration lost 62% of its corporate support as major corporations pulled back from supporting diversity and inclusion programs, which have become a target for President Donald Trump’s administration. But some longtime LGBTQ+ advocates see the lack of corporate support for Pride as an opportunity.
“You know, I thought that it was going to be a bit more of a challenge and I was absolutely proven wrong,” said Greenman-Baird of finding sponsors. The Coffee Trader, a local coffee shop with locations in Montrose, Grand Junction and Gunnison was one of the businesses supporting the event.
“These big [corporations] decided not to donate as much or at all this year. So those big metropolitan organizations lost a big chunk of their funding. Fortunately, in a rural community here, we're a little bit more insulated from that in some ways,” said Greenman-Baird.
In a park near the Uncompahgre River, Montrose Pride drew locals and visitors from western Colorado and beyond. A couple from Parker hiking at Black Canyon National Park happened to see the banner across Main Street and stopped to check out the event.
“It's easy to do in a big city like Denver, you have a safety in numbers type thing, in a smaller community it’s definitely harder. It’s that much more important,” said Shaun Seela about Pride events in small towns. Seela stood next to his partner, Scott Pedram, both decked out in hiking gear — sun hats, backpacks and DSLR cameras.
“We’re flying our Pride flag, and I look around the neighborhood, and I see other houses with their Pride flags as well, and I think ‘oh, there’s a lot more people here than I’d realized,’” said Pedram.
At Ouray County Pride in 2023, Greenman-Baird realized Montrose was one of the only places on the Western Slope that didn’t have a Pride event, so they formed a small committee and built the event from scratch, hosting the inaugural celebration in 2024.
Two Montrose police officers were stationed at the park for the event. Evelyn says Montrose Pride also hired private security company Hydra and shared that cost with Loving Beyond Understating, an organization from Grand Junction.
In the grass at the park, Lucas Foote lounged in a camp chair, his glitter-filled beard glinting in the afternoon sun as the drag show ended and NVR ENDVR, a metal band from Grand Junction, started playing. Foote and his husband, West Crosby moved to Montrose last year from Charleston, South Carolina, and said they probably get more looks for being a biracial couple than for being gay.
About 0.2 percent of the 21,600 people that live in Montrose are Black, according to the Census.
“This space does allow opportunity for progress, internally, and for our relationship, and for the world. It’s great, but I go and I navigate the space, and there’s still hesitation because of the other part,” said Crosby.
Montrose doesn’t have a gay bar, and Foote wishes there were more chances for LGBTQ+ people to interact and have community in town. So for him, the Pride event was a welcome change of pace.
“The older I get, the more I realize that not fully being proud of yourself doesn't give someone else the opportunity to love and accept you. They don't even know who you are because you're hiding some of the best, most fun, gay parts of yourself,” said Foote.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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