(Lander, WY) – In the last weekend of June, Lander hosted one of its most anticipated annual traditions for the LGBTQ+ community: Wind River Pride’s Pride Month Lander events, including an 18+ dance party and the annual drag show in City Park. Hundreds of people attended across the two nights, growing the events at rates that bring promise to the future of the LGBTQ community in Fremont County.
Friday night Pushroot Brewery opened its back patio and bar for an adults only drag show and dance party that packed the space well beyond what organizers had seen in previous years. Around 150 people turned out as performers took the back patio first before the crowd moved inside for the final two acts and a full dance party complete with lights and a DJ booth. Performers from across Wyoming, including artists from Rock Springs and Jackson, made the trip to Lander to be part of the weekend.
Jake Milligan and Annelise Wright decorated themselves before they watched the show. h/t Carl Cote Hoana Corner performed on the stage behind Pushroot Brewery at Friday night’s Wind River Pride Drag Show. h/t Carl Cote The crowd gets down to some pop dance tunes in between performers. h/t Carl Cote Aidee H. Dee collects dollar bills during her performance at the drag show Friday. h/t Carl Cote
Wind River Pride organizer Annelise Wright said the turnout nearly doubled what the dance party drew last year.
“Seeing the community show up in numbers like that is what this is all about,” she said. “That was really awesome to see.”
Saturday brought the bigger production, the annual drag show, which organizers had planned for City Park before high winds forced a last minute move to the Lander Art Center. By 7:30 p.m. the show was up and running, performers working the room as audience members pressed forward with dollar bills to tip artists dancing and lip syncing through their sets. Wind River Pride accepted donations throughout the month, with events serving as a fundraising vehicle for the organization’s mutual aid fund, which directs ten percent of all fundraising toward direct community support.
Wright acknowledged that moving the drag show indoors likely cost them some attendance, estimating about two thirds of their usual crowd made it out. But she said the LAC filled up and felt alive.
“It really felt full and lovely in there,” she said. “It’s obviously not the park, but it’s so great to have access to that space on short notice.”
Tehn Forte, a drag performer and Wind River Pride organizer who moved to the Riverton area from Sheridan last year, said the Saturday show went about as well as it could have given the circumstances. After more than a decade performing drag, starting in Atlanta back in 2013, Tehn has learned to expect the unexpected at Pride events.
“Every year something goes wrong,” Tehn laughed. “Whether it’s weather or tech issues or performers not being able to do it. But we always manage to pull together.”
For Forte, the weekend required stepping out of their comfort zone more than usual. Saturday’s show marked the first time they had sung live in front of a crowd in years.
“The crowd made it easy,” Tehn said. “It was just really people enjoying what I was trying to say with my performance.”
But beyond the performances themselves, both Wright and Tehn emphasized how important and rewarding making a community for LGBTQ people is.
Tehn, who works in education and did not encounter anything resembling a Pride event until leaving home for college.
“Kids need to know there’s nothing wrong with them,” Tehn said, describing what they hope young people take away. “There’s a community out there who will support you. You can find people who look like you, who love like you… It makes you feel a little less alone.”
Wright framed visibility in similar terms, describing it not just as celebration but as access, as permission.
“Visibility gives people context and it gives people permission to be themselves,” she said. “In small towns, it can be like saving lives. Just knowing there are other people out there can be a real lifeline.”
And that lifeline Wright describes extends beyond Pride Month. Wind River Pride runs a mutual aid network year round, fielding requests that can look like help with a dump run or someone to walk a dog during a hard week. “It’s about building something a little more durable than a weekend of fun events,” said Wright.
The organization is also thinking bigger geographically. Pride in the Park in Riverton, held earlier in the month, drew a crowd that surprised Wind River Pride organizers, including a significant turnout from the local Indigenous community and other Riverton residents who had not made it to Wind River Pride events before.
“It was probably one of my favorite events,” Tehn said of the Riverton gathering. “It was the brownest pride I’d been to in a long, long time.”
For Wright, seeing new faces show up in Riverton confirmed something the organization has long suspected: the need is there, it just needed easier access.
“It felt really big,” she said. “Because that’s usually a Lander event. And it was so welcomed and loved and needed in Riverton.”
Wind River Pride’s planning committee meets regularly from February through the end of June and encourages new organizers and volunteers. Those interested in getting involved can reach out through the organization’s Facebook page.