JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — Jessica Frederick was snapping pictures and taking video of the first-ever variety show during the annual Pride Fest in Jamestown.

"It's the community having a voice, and being not just spectators, but participants in Pride," said Frederick, interim coordinator for Jamestown Pride.

What You Need To Know

  •  June is Pride month

  •  City of Jamestown added two new events to the festival this year

  • The Pride Progress Flag was rasied over the Robert H. Jackson Center as opposed to City Hall this year

Participants also put their best foot forward at the first-ever rainbow walk, in place of a traditional pride parade.

"It sends a message of unity, of community, of dignity. So we're going to keep working on developing this, and building on it from community feedback," said Frederick. 

The community kicked off the month with a progress flag raising at the Robert H. Jackson Center, instead of City Hall, where it had been done under the prior Democratic administration with an openly gay man as mayor.

The new Republican administration with a female mayor drew criticism from some LGBTQ community members, as the city is only flying government flags on the building, but remains supportive, signing the event application, honoring requests to light Pride colors at night and presenting organizers with a proclamation.

"We're better together. We want to celebrate unity. We want to celebrate love. We want to celebrate community and we will do that with anybody," said Frederick.

As will Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, taking the necessary steps to hold a Sunday Pride service, welcoming people who it says have been marginalized in the past. 

"The church has not always been kind to those who don't fit into neat categories,"  said Luke Fodor, a rector with St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

The service included a guest preacher and a ceremony honoring young people who've chosen a new name, after feeling the one they were born with doesn't fit.

"It's not a place of judgment. We're not here to point fingers at people. We're here just to open up our arms like Jesus did and extend love to those who need it," said Rev. Fodor.

Frederick also serves as the children, youth and family minister at St. Luke's when she's not out behind the lens.

"We are stronger together. It's important to celebrate who we are as people. We're all different, we are all different," said Frederick.

Two of the event's main sponsors included the Chautauqua County Mental Health Association and Evergreen Health.