HP CONCERT SERIES

SPECIAL EVENT • COMMUNITY RESPONSE

COUNTER
PRIDE FEST

OFFICIAL NAME “Family Values Picnic & Modest Fireworks”
UNOFFICIAL NAME “Straight People With Clipboards Party”
SCHEDULED AGAINST Every Pride event within a 25-mile radius
KEY ATTRACTION Anxious potato salad, acoustic country covers

When the neighborhood decides the most rebellious thing it can do is host an aggressively normal picnic.

“It’s Not Against Pride, We Just Happen To Be Free That Day”

Organizers of Highland Park’s first ever Counter Pride Fest insist their event is “not about anyone else” and “just happens” to be scheduled at the exact time as downtown’s Pride parade, with a sound system pointed firmly away from it.

Programming

The festival features:

  • A “One Man, One Grill” burger station.
  • A craft table where kids make vision boards featuring nuclear families and lake houses.
  • A devotional tent offering workshops on “loving the sinner, litigating the rest.”

Dress Code & Décor

Attendees are encouraged to wear “classic Americana”: lots of khaki, flag motifs, and polos in colors carefully adjacent to the rainbow but never quite touching it.

When asked why the event uses the same fonts and layout as Pride flyers, one organizer replied, “We just like the aesthetic without all the… implications.”

Meanwhile, Across Town…

Actual Pride

Just a few miles away, people gather to celebrate queer joy, survival, and chosen family. The invitation is open, but some folks would rather hold a separate potluck and call it “just different.”

What’s Really Being Protected?

Counter Pride Fest frames itself as defending “tradition,” but the strongest tradition here might be the reflex to host a rival event instead of engaging with someone else’s.

RSVP: Optional, Reflection: Not

You don’t have to attend either event. But you might ask why one group feels safer building a whole parallel festival than simply sharing a park.