Small Town Pride

Small Town Pride is a rural Pride festival run by the Rural Justice Network, a group based in North Brookfield. It was started in 2021 to give residents of rural central Massachusetts a local Pride, and it features bands, dancers, singers, speakers, and vendor booths.

Small Town Pride is the best-known event of the Rural Justice Network, and it was created to give people in rural central Massachusetts a celebration of representation that is often only found in large cities. The organizers stress that representation should reach every area, including places that tend to go unnoticed.

On the day, the field fills with vendors sharing their own creations and information about nearby towns and communities, while volunteers circulate to answer questions. Food and portable restrooms are available. Past participants have included the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center. The Rural Justice Network holds biweekly Zoom meetings and takes applications from vendors, performers and volunteers. The network is still gathering records of past participants and keeps updating its lists of the groups that have taken part.

Pride events celebrate LGBTQ+ people and mark the Stonewall uprising of June 1969. Most combine a parade or march with a festival of performers, community groups, vendors and food.

Small Town Pride has included festival, live music, vendors and speakers.

Small Town Pride was first held in 2021.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held June 27, 2026. It usually falls late June.