Paul Szmal: Welcome back to FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio. It's 816. I'm joined by Emily White from Family Counseling Service of the Finger Lakes at this time. Good morning, Emily. How are you?
Emily White: I'm good. Good morning. How are you doing, Paul?
Paul Szmal: Doing very well. Doing very well. We want to talk about the 11th annual FLX Pride Celebration.
Emily White: Yes, we are so excited for FLX Pride to come back June 21st, so it's just going to be in a couple weeks. And we're at a brand new venue this year, the Ontario County Fairgrounds in Canandaigua. How did you come to choose the Ontario County Fairgrounds as a venue?
Paul Szmal: You know, we've been at the Geneva Lakefront for 10 years at this point, and when we came across the fairgrounds, we were looking for a bigger space that was going to be accessible by more people, that we could reach more people in the community. And it was just kind of luck that we reached out to Ontario County, and they were really excited by the idea, and the rest is history.
Emily White: So the plans are in place for what will be, I assume, an expanded FLX Pride event this year, since you have the bigger space to deal with.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. Last year, we had between 35-40 vendors, and we're now over 60 this year. We're going to have 60 community partners coming in and sharing what they know and what they can do, and some really yummy food. We're really excited.
Emily White: Tell me a little bit, for people that aren't familiar with FLX Pride, what this is all about and what it entails.
Paul Szmal: So if people haven't attended FLX Pride before, you know, this is our program, the LGBTQ program here at Family Counseling. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year. All proceeds that we raise at FLX Pride go directly to helping individuals in our community. Our LGBTQ advocates, you know, assist people in schools who are being bullied and need help, you know, filing reports. We help people with emotional support, whether that's individual or a support group. We also help people with the name change process and updating their gender identity documents. And, you know, we also provide free grant-funded trainings throughout the year. So there's a lot that we do for all five counties that we serve.
Emily White: Hey, you mentioned that there are going to be 60, up to 60 different vendors this year at FLX Pride. What are some of the other activities that are going to be taking place as part of the event?
Paul Szmal: Ooh, okay. I'm so excited for this year's lineup. We're working with the stage coordinator, shout out Morgan, who's helping us put together a day full of events. We're doing yoga. We're doing trivia. We're going to have local artists performing on the stage all day. We start at 12 o'clock, and then at 6 o'clock, from 6 to 8, we're going to have a big drag show.
Emily White: Oh, okay. That sounds like a full day's worth of activities.
Paul Szmal: Oh, yeah. We're really excited. We really couldn't be able to pull this off without the amazing support of our community partners. We've gotten some really big sponsorships this year, so thank you Rochester Greater Health Foundation and the local Rochester Episcopalian Diocese and Trillium Health especially. They've been wonderful to work with.
Emily White: Always great to be able to have that sponsorship support and underwriting support to help events like this happen.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. We're really trying to bring attention to all of the amazing LGBTQ artists and vendors who are going out of their way to spend their Pride Month working with us. We're really excited for the people who are just going to spend the day hanging out, and also all of our allies that are here to support our community, standing up and showing everybody that they stand with us in solidarity.
Emily White: I forgot to ask an important question. Is there an admission for this, or is this free to attend?
Paul Szmal: It's absolutely free to attend. No cost associated, but we're going to have food available for purchase. We're going to have our own FLX Pride merch. We have new tote bags with the FLX Pride logo this year. Of course, all of our wonderful vendors will have things to purchase.
Emily White: It sounds almost a little bit like a county fair with a little bit of a twist added to it.
Paul Szmal: You are so right, Paul. This year's theme is the Queer County Fair You Didn't Know You Needed, because you absolutely do. We work in the Finger Lakes and a lot of rural areas. There's a lot of messaging that if LGBTQ people want to feel safe, especially right now in today's climate, that they need to flee small areas and move to the cities, where people will generally be more accepted. But I'm telling you, as somebody who's grown up in a really small town and who's made the Finger Lakes their home, I love coming from a small town. I love that community. I love that we all check in with each other, and you can go and ask your neighbor for sugar. We really look out for each other, and LGBTQ people have a space in these small communities. We help them flourish.
Emily White: Will there be counselors and other people of that type that are going to be at the festival as well?
Paul Szmal: We do have counselors on staff who are going to be showing up for the day, representing our agency. We're going to have volunteer coordinators who are going to be keeping an eye on the festival and making sure everything's good. If anyone needs anything, we're going to have specific areas where things are too overstimulating and you need to take a break. We'll have a more quiet area of the festival layout. Or if you just need to sit in a tent and get some water and chill, we're going to have water available for folks. We're going to have shade available for people. And because we're at the fairgrounds, we're also utilizing some of those barns for our vendors. So you can go in there, get some shade. There's going to be windows and industrial fans going. We're really hoping there'll be a space for everybody to feel good and comfortable.
Emily White: And again, what hours is the event operating and the date one more time?
Paul Szmal: Please come out to FLX Pride on Saturday, June 21st at the Ontario County Fairgrounds starting at 12 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m.
Emily White: Okay, and it's all free to attend.
Paul Szmal: Yes, so please come out. This is a family-friendly event, so we're going to have specific activities for children, for all ages. There's going to be something for everybody at FLX Pride.
Emily White: Yes, it sounds like it's going to be a fantastic event. Congratulations on all the hard work. I know it takes a lot to put one of these events together.
Paul Szmal: Oh, yes. Our team starts planning nice and early. I think this year, you know, it wasn't even Halloween by the time we sat down and picked a date.
Emily White: Oh, my goodness. Okay, yeah, that is quite a long time to be working at it. By the way, how are you on volunteers? Do you need any additional volunteer help for the day?
Paul Szmal: Thank you so much for asking, Paul. We absolutely are looking for more volunteers for the day of. If people check out our Facebook, we're on Facebook at the center of the Finger Lakes, and also the Family Counseling Service of the Finger Lakes Facebook. There will be a link so people can see what volunteer shifts are still available, and you can sign up virtually.
Emily White: All right, fantastic. Thank you so much, Emily. I appreciate you being on to tell us about the FLX Pride Festival for this year.
Paul Szmal: Thank you for having me back. I love talking to you.
Emily White: It is 825 on FLX Morning.
