COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — One year after extremists attempted to hijack their celebration, the North Idaho Pride Alliance returned to Coeur d’Alene City Park for its annual community event.
“Just celebrating love,” smiled Daniel Flowerdew, a longtime North Idaho resident. Flowerdew says he’s proud to see the community come together for events like Pride in the Park.
In high school, he would receive death threats for being a gay man. Now, being accepted for who he is, in the home he loves, means everything to him.
“We’re all people. We all deserve love, appreciation and gratitude. We all have struggles that we’re going through and that we’re not alone,” Flowerdew said.
According to organizers, this year's Pride in the Park brought in roughly 2,500 people. 20 more vendors were also in attendance and participating at the event.
The growth and representation is something Kimber Mayfield believes is worth celebrating. “We didn’t have all of this stuff growing up so now that I’m an adult and out here, I just want to give as much support to all of the communities that we can,” explained Mayfield.
The Silver Valley native spent the day passing out free pins and words with positive reminders. Although Mayfield is excited to witness the growth, she believes there’s still more work to be done. Which is a major reason why she’s helping bring in a Pride festival to Wallace, Idaho for only the second time in July..
“And so I refuse to sit down and let people not accept. We are here and we will stay here and we are all about love,” Mayfield said.
WATCH RELATED: Pride in the Park returns to North Idaho one year after members of hate group are arrested
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