Today, new transportation options in the Northern Metro. We take you to East Central Minnesota for one of the oldest festivals celebrating diversity. And, how the community is coming together to recognize the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.
Transcript
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HOST: You're listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a daily newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota.
ANCHOR: Today, new transportation options in the Northern Metro. Then, we take you to East Central Minnesota for one of the oldest festivals celebrating diversity. And how the community is coming together to recognize the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's murder. I'm Gracie J.
It's soon going to be easier to get around Chisago and Isanti Counties in the Northern Metro. Arrowhead Transit is launching its redesigned services on June 2nd as part of its Ride Smart 2025 Initiative. Increased services include expanded dial-a-ride boundaries for the cities of Cambridge and North Branch, redesigned routes, as well as the addition of weekend transportation. Officials from Arrowhead Transit say the additional services come after months of meetings and surveys with members of the community, healthcare providers, employers, and schools.
Up next, reporter Mik Finnegan takes us to a Minnesota community that has one of the oldest Pride festivals in the nation.
Mik Finnegan: 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of this rural Minnesota Pride festival. East Central Minnesota Pride has something extra special worth celebrating. They claim to be the first ever rural Pride festival in the nation.
Aaron Bombard: In 2000, a group formed called the Men's Circle, and it was just a gathering of queer men at local establishments. At about their five-year anniversary, they decided to form an official nonprofit, and they formed essentially Minnesota Pride.
Mik Finnegan: That was Aaron Bombard, planning committee chair. He says they are finding ways to make this year's event special.
Aaron Bombard: We submitted to the Minnesota Historical Society to get funding for a historical marker being the first real Pride in the country.
Mik Finnegan: Lots has changed in the last 20 years, but for the organizers, Pride has only grown. For their town and their festival, vice chair Natalie Goldman shares that she and Aaron are the newbies, with four years on the committee.
Natalie Goldman: We actually still have some of the original founding fathers that currently serve on our committee to this day.
Aaron Bombard: It's Don and Randy and Paul.
Don Quaintance: Yep, my name is Don Quaintance. I just turned 84. I'm one of three people that actually started the Men's Circle and then started Pride.
Mik Finnegan: Don, Randy and Paul met through volunteering with the Rural AIDS Network, and felt a need for a community space where they could gather.
Don Quaintance: Our first meeting, there probably was like two dozen people at the meeting, and we would meet in safe places and discuss topics that affected us.
Mik Finnegan: After sending out a notice in the surrounding five county newspapers, their first meeting was held on April 1, 2000.
Don Quaintance: We knew that there were, you know, gay folk out in the area, and we didn't know how to contact them.
Mik Finnegan: On the fifth anniversary of the Men's Circle, they decided to celebrate with the picnic in the park that now has become East Central Minnesota Pride.
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The celebration wasn't always accepted in the town.
Don Quaintance: I think the second year, there was a group meeting at Robinson Park. Called themselves Family. They were actually against our picnic, even some appeared in our event to cause a few issues.
Mik Finnegan: The importance of hosting a rural Pride is showing community members that queer people are not a group to fear, but in fact, their neighbors and loved ones.
Don Quaintance: We are everywhere, and we're everywhere in family. When they said that theirs was a family event, well, we too are family.
Mik Finnegan: The counter picnics stuck around for a couple of years. But the planning committee all expressed that support for the festival has only grown over time.
Don Quaintance: Our first Pride event, there was probably like 100 people, GLB community and then our allies. Now about 1000 people have come this past year.
Aaron Bombard: This year, our theme is rooted in Pride. You know, after 20 years, we've placed roots here, and we've done a lot in this community to show that we're here. We are just like you. We just want to live a happy life.
Mik Finnegan: To join in the festivities, come out to Robinson Park in Pine City on June 7, from 11 to 5. This is Mik Finnegan for North Star Stories.
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ANCHOR: You are listening to North Star Stories.
Five years ago this Saturday, a former Minneapolis police officer thrust our state into the world's spotlight. On May 25th, 2020, the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck. Rise and Remember is planning three days' worth of activities, including a community festival, a night of honor, and a candlelight vigil. Information is online at Rise and Remember dot org. We here at North Star Stories are planning a series of special reports looking at the five-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd that will air next week.
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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.