Northport community gathers for Pridefest as village's flag controversy recedes

Pride flags fluttered in a light breeze on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Northport Village Park for the fourth annual Pridefest, an event celebrating and supporting the LGBTQ+ community. 

Hundreds attended the event, which featured performers, activities for families and dozens of vendors. The gathering took place on the heels of controversy over the placement of rainbow-colored pride flags at the small waterfront park nestled within the village.

“The goal of Pridefest is to show to the community that everyone’s welcome here, and that everyone is valued and respected,” said Jeff Cusick, treasurer for Northport Pridefest.

Earlier this month, Mayor Donna Koch ordered pride flags to be removed from lampposts within the village park after an American Legion commander complained the flags shared posts with military personnel honored through the legion's "Hometown Heroes" series. The LGBTQ+ community and others denounced the decision, and the flags were later placed on lampposts that didn't have veterans' banners.

Koch apologized for the move at a subsequent board meeting, saying she took "full responsibility for the decision." On Saturday, some veterans' portraits hung along a fence at the park. Below some of the pride flags were the empty holders for the veterans' banners.

At Saturday’s celebration, Koch spoke to the crowd and received cheers from the audience.

“Our village is diverse, and as our mayor, every day I do my best to see everyone is treated fairly and respectfully,” Koch said. “Some days I’m a little more successful than others.”

Support in the community 

Despite the dispute, many in the crowd saw the day as a joyous occasion.

This year's Pridefest featured performers, including LaBelle, a Long Island drag queen and entertainer. James Graziano, of Northport, who sang the national anthem, told the audience his story about coming out, the bullying he endured and his road to recovery over addiction. 

Elise Tiripicchio, 61, of Levittown, said she attended this year’s event with her daughter, who was working with one of the event’s vendors.

“I support the whole community here,” Tiripicchio said.

Nora Nolan, an adult and teen services librarian at East Northport Public Library and a board member of Northport Pridefest, said at least 75% of the vendors were nonprofits providing services and that the remaining businesses were owned by either LGBTQ+ people or allies of the community.  Among them were Northwell Health and nonprofits that gave free Narcan training and other health-related help and advice. 

With her child playing an oversized game of Connect 4, Tory Carbajal, 39, of Brooklyn, said she attends the event because her parents live nearby and she wants to support the LGBTQ+ community.

Pridefest, she said, is about “representation and the fact that [members of the LGBTQ+ community] should feel included.” 

'In the rearview mirror' 

The recent battle over hanging pride flags at the park wasn’t lost on everyone.

Bill Sihler, 50, of Northport, said he feels acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community has improved in the two decades since he came out as gay. But the battle over where pride flags could be hung, he said, “upset me.”

He said he felt the dispute got blown “out of proportion” and that it cast “a little bit” of a shadow over this year’s event.

Northport American Legion's commander, William McKenna, who urged the mayor to relocate the pride flags after veterans raised concerns, said during a phone call Saturday that the dispute is "in the rearview mirror." 

He said the fallout of the decision has upset a lot of veterans but that he understood the mayor's decision-making. 

"She's a politician and she has to do what she has to do," McKenna said. "She's trying to keep the peace with everybody."

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ