There are plenty of things going on this weekend. Today I’m just going to talk about one.
Old Ellicott City Pride is tomorrow, Sunday June 8th from 12-6 pm.
OEC Pride's FIFTH ANNUAL PRIDE FESTIVAL: Resist, Inspire, Support, Empower!
Join us on Sun Jun 08 2025 at 12:00 PM at the Howard County Circuit Courthouse Parking lot for a day filled with celebration, community, and inclusiveness. This event is a time to come together and showcase our pride. There will be Drag, music, food, vendors, exhibitors, games, and more for everyone to enjoy. Don't miss out on this opportunity to connect with others and show your pride! See you there!
We host events that help foster a safe and inclusive environment for people of all ages, sexualities, genders, ethnicities, faiths and creeds. We are very proud to announce Old Ellicott City's Fifth Annual OEC LGBTQ+ Pride Festival and invite everyone to come and celebrate with us!
The event is free. Register at Eventbrite for free tickets.
Join us for the 5th annual OEC Pride. Held in the courthouse parking lot and the Inn at Mt. Ida. We will have music, drag, food trucks, vendors, games, tie dye, beer garden and more. Bring the family and while here, participate in our scavenger hunt in OEC for great prizes. This is a free event.
Note the location. I think it’s a bit different this year. OEC Pride and Howard County Pride are initiatives of local nonprofit HoCo Pride.
Why is this the only event I’m featuring today? Well, when I posted information about the flag raising for Pride 2025 on Reddit, many (not all) the comments were so hateful that they’ve since been deleted by admin.
All those years that I felt hopeful that Howard County was a safe and welcoming place…it wasn’t. It never was. It was a place where the safe and welcoming people felt comfortable expressing themselves and the bigoted and hateful people largely kept quiet. A switch has been flipped and wow, have those people been activated.
I got into it with some of the trolls on County Executive Calvin Ball’s Facebook page this week. In general I try not to do that. Some days that little inner voice tells you to speak out. I can’t say for certain that is the most effective thing to do. But, I did it.
Since then I’ve been trying to add supportive statements wherever I can instead. Here’s one of my favorites:
...Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.
The words are the conclusion of a sonnet by Lin-Manuel Miranda, given as his acceptance speech at the Tony Awards in 2016. The poem contains a searing memorial to the victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
Here is an excerpt. Go here for the entire piece.
We rise and fall and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love
Cannot be killed or swept aside
Now fill the world with music, love, and pride
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