Hardy County LGBTQ Group Represents W.Va. In WorldPride Parade

Vehicles in rainbow decor idled along 15th St. in Washington, D.C. Saturday morning, signaling the approach of this year’s WorldPride parade. After some prep work from volunteers, most would tote sprawling floats into the heart of the city as part of an international Pride Month celebration.

Parked a few blocks into the lineup is a more modest entry: a lone, silver pickup truck with the words “Lost River Pride” printed on the side. Draped from the back, a West Virginia state flag billows in the wind alongside a super-sized Pride flag.

“They don’t always go synonymous with each other, the two flags,” said Tim Savoy, president of Lost River Pride. The Hardy County nonprofit provides LGBTQ advocacy and educational programming to the valley surrounding the unincorporated community of Lost River.

“We are here to show that LGBTQ+ people exist in West Virginia,” Savoy said. “We are thriving and we are active parts of our communities.”

For Savoy, the makeshift float captured the essence of his community. It featured a member’s own truck, plus an array of locally sourced items, even including the stickers pasted to the vehicle’s sides. Volunteers wore matching shirts displaying the group name in technicolor. In other words, the whole effort struck Savoy as authentically West Virginian.

“Some of these floats out here will be from big, multinational corporations, and there’ll be hundreds of people. But we will be just over a dozen,” he said. “There’s no size too large or small to be in the parade. Here we are, just to represent the state of West Virginia.”

WorldPride is a rotating international event held biannually to celebrate Pride Month and advocate for LGBTQ rights globally, according to the festival’s webpage. It was first held in Rome in 2000, and this year came to Washington, D.C. for its second-ever festival in the United States.

This year marked the 50th anniversary of Pride events in Washington, D.C., and the 25th anniversary of WorldPride as a festival. Beyond the parade, the event also included a street festival with local vendors and community groups, plus a two-day concert featuring the likes of Cynthia Erivo, Doechii and Khalid.

Eric Radloff is a former treasurer and current executive board member for Lost River Pride. As he helped prepare the group’s float for the parade Sunday, Radloff said participating in such a large-scale event felt like a privilege.

“It’s a great honor,” Radloff said. “We live in an amazing community. I like to say that everyone in Lost River is truly family to us. So, it’s bringing a piece of that family here to Washington, D.C. and representing the state as a whole.”

Radloff said that Savoy, who splits his time between West Virginia and the nation’s capital, learned about WorldPride and reached out to organizers directly to ask if Lost River Pride could participate in the parade.

They got approval, then spent six months preparing for the big day. Members marched alongside floats representing community groups, companies, foreign embassies and even entire countries.

Savoy said participating in the parade was great fun, but that it represented just a fraction of what local LGBTQ organizers do year round. Outside of Pride Month, Lost River Pride focuses on things like LGBTQ advocacy and public education, even sponsoring a scholarship program for local high school seniors who want to pursue higher education.

Lost River Pride also supports community cornerstones like the local fire department, plus student groups at the local middle school, according to Savoy.

“Our organization is hyperlocal,” he said. “We like to call ourselves a true-blue Pride organization, just meaning we’re very blue collar and there to support the country elements of what a lot of West Virginia is.”

And soon, Lost River Pride’s year-round organizing will culminate in another annual milestone: the Lost River Pride Festival.

The event features local music performances, art vendors, family-friendly activities and more. This year, it will be held June 21 from 12 to 4 p.m. at the Lost River Farmers Market, located in the neighboring unincorporated community of Lost City.

All in all, Savoy said he felt “incredibly humbled” to participate in the WorldPride parade, and excited for what is ahead for his group. This weekend was a great way “to kick off our Pride season,” he said.

“There are contingents from all over the world, from many different countries,” Savoy said. “To say that we are the only ones from the state of West Virginia is something that I am truly proud of.”

“Hardy County is not a large county, and, in fact, Lost River is a very small part of that county,” he continued. “But we are there. … We are in every part of the community, in the very beautiful tapestry that is West Virginia.”

To learn more about Lost River Pride and this year’s Lost River Pride Festival, visit the organization website.