After a Pride-themed block party was canceled for logistical reasons, an organizer is asking Arlington’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee for support next year.
At a July 28 committee meeting, Equality Arlington president Kellen MacBeth asked committee members to take the lead in planning a signature event next June as part of Pride Month.
Equality Arlington, a nonprofit advocacy organization, had planned to stage a June 2026 Pride block party along 23rd Street S., but canceled the event owing to logistical challenges.
MacBeth said the planning period, which started in March, was not long enough to fundraise and obtain necessary permits for the June 2026 event, which was budgeted to cost approximately $35,000.
“It was always incredibly ambitious,” he said of the timeline. “A lot of people in the very beginning said, ‘there’s not enough time to pull off an event of this size and magnitude in this short amount of time.’ There was such excitement, we said we were going to try it anyway, and see how far we can get.”
LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee members had mixed views about the committee’s ultimate role in a 2027 event. They generally supported the concept but questioned whether the committee, which advises County Manager Mark Schwartz, was the proper organization to oversee it.
“Fundamentally, our role is as an advisory committee,” panel member Michael Castellano said. “This would seem to veer from that, if we’re planning events, especially if we need to fundraise.”
“We should probably act more as a liaison and advocate,” committee member SC Nealy said.
Committee members pushed back further discussion to their next meeting, in October, by which time county staff will have checked with Schwartz to see his preference on how to proceed.
A decision likely would need to be made then, committee chair Samantha Perez said.
“Starting [the effort] in October is probably the latest I’d want to get something formal happening,” she said.
One way or another, the committee should play a role in planning a 2027 Pride event, Perez said.
“I think we can take this on,” she said.
