8 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Witnesses to history
Celebrating Astoria’s
evolution, Pride
“Bridging Communities”
FRIDAY, JUNE 7
4th Annual Astoria Pride GAYLA
8 p.m. Liberty Theatre. $30.
SATURDAY, JUNE 8
FOR COAST WEEKEND
Riverwalk Pride Parade
Noon. Pier 12, Astoria. 10 a.m. day-of
registration. Pre-register at facebook.com/
astoriapride and lcqcastoria.org. Free.
S
Pride Block Party
11:30 a.m. Riverwalk at Barbey Maritime
Center. Free.
SUNDAY, JUNE 9
Pacific Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Service
10 a.m. Performing Arts Center, 588 16th
St., Astoria. Features the LCQC Choir.
Potlock to follow at 11 a.m. at the Astoria
Masonic Temple, 1572 Franklin Ave.
Colin Murphey/The Astorian
Sharyn Hedbloom, left, and Margaret Frimoth discuss the history of Astoria Pride events.
Seeing change
Hedbloom and Frimoth attributed much
of the positive change in the area to the
efforts of the Q Center.
Tessa Scheller, founder of the Q Center,
said, “Pride is a dream and it showcases our
area’s major talents.”
It also helps fund the Q Center.
This year, the Center has been able to add
drop in hours every Friday night from 5 to
9 p.m.
Hedbloom acknowledged the work the
Q Center is doing during a difficult politi-
cal climate.
“There are people in this community who
are able to fight the good fight but also be
able to stand up and speak truth to power
and advocate but continue with an attitude
of gratitude and presence and love,” Hed-
bloom said.
Astoria Pride 2019
Pre-Gayla Champagne Reception
6 p.m. Liberty Theatre McTavish Room,
1203 Commercial St., Astoria. $25.
By HEATHER DOUGLAS
haryn Hedbloom and Margaret Frim-
oth have walked in pride parades as
far away as Oslo, Norway, but the best
one, they say, is right here at home.
The couple have lived in Astoria since
the 90s and are known advocates for mar-
ginalized groups. They made history in 2014
as the first same same-sex couple to apply
for a wedding license in Clatsop County
after an earlier ban had been overturned.
Hedbloom is continually in awe of Asto-
ria’s evolution over decades and never
thought she would “live long enough to
see marriage equality,” let alone Pride in
Astoria.
Frimoth experienced her own awe in
2012 when “Dragulation”— a ground-
breaking drag variety show created by
local dancer Marco Davis — had fans lined
around the block in the rain outside the
Columbian Theatre.
Davis’s alter ego “Daylight” will serve as
Grand Marshal of this year’s Pride Parade
as part of Astoria Pride 2019 “Bridging
Communities,” which includes a myriad of
events held Friday-Sunday, June 7-9.
Astoria Pride is also the major annual
fundraiser for The Lower Columbia Q Cen-
ter, a non-profit organization that serves
the LGBTQIA+ community in the Colum-
bia-Pacific region.
IF YOU GO
Photo courtesy Margaret Frimoth
Sharyn Hedbloom walking in the 2018
Astoria Pride Parade.
Photo courtesy Margaret Frimoth
From left: Margaret Frimoth serving as one of
the Astoria Pride Parade Grand Marshals in
2017, Sharyn Hedbloom, Trolley Conductor
Bob Westerberg and Soleil Rathmell-Stokes.
Passion for justice
The two met working in child services
in Astoria in the 90s and still share a pas-
sion for youth and community. Frim-
oth serves as Vice President of Academic
Affairs at Clatsop Community College
and Hedbloom’s career before retirement
was working as a school counselor.
Together, they created Victory Over
Child Abuse, or V.O.C.A., which helps
Clatsop County children who are survi-
vors of sexual violence.
But unlike today, the couple did not
feel free to be out when they first met.
Frimoth formed a group of like-minded
Drag Queen Reading Hour
3 p.m. Beach Books, 616 Broadway St.,
Seaside.
For more information, visit facebook.com/
astoriapride/ or lcqcastoria.org. Tickets can
be purchased at libertyastoria.showare.com
local progressive women who would hold
potlucks together. One year on National
Coming Out Day, some of the women
gathered together for a photo.
“I wasn’t in the photo because I
worked in the schools and I didn’t feel
safe being out,” Hedbloom said. “When
you worked with children, it was not safe
to be out at that time.”
Frimoth echoed this.
In the past, she could only be herself
in San Francisco’s LGBTQ-friendly Cas-
tro District where she attended school and
had many close friends.
Hedbloom attended a conservative col-
lege in Iowa in the 1960s.
“I am somebody who almost got
kicked out of college because I was hav-
ing a relationship with a woman,” she
said.
But the evolution of Astoria — and
Pride — have impacted the couple.
Frimoth’s favorite part of Pride is the
parade and feeling fine holding hands in
public, which wasn’t something the cou-
ple was able to do in the past.
“Pride parades have allowed for that
moment and that’s just the best,” Frimoth
said. CW