Rainbows, roller disco and wedding vows

Adams County host second annual Pride celebration at Riverdale Regional Park

BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

As eight couples gathered below the stage, waiting to say their nuptial vows, o ciant Stella Diver said it was nearly enough to make a drag queen cry.

“ e only reason they chose me to do this is because my heart is made of ice,” Diver said at Adams County’s rst Marriagepalooza mass wedding event. “But looking at everyone right now, I’m starting to get a little misty.”

But speaking to the crowd at Adams County’s Riverdale Regional Park gathered for Adams County’s second annual Pride celebration, the Denverbased drag performer said it was much more than just emotional. It was important.

“Even now, the love we share for each other is questioned and considered an act of rebellion,” Diver said. “Pride is our moment, our month, to show the world how proud we are of the love we have for each other. And it does not stop with this weekend. e step you are taking today to cement your love for each other allows Pride to live on every day.”

And then Diver led the 16 people in their vows — moving forward into a great commitment of their love, promising to keep their partner’s heart safe and asking them to love their partners as much as they love themselves.

And with that, Diver declared them married.

It was an experiment this year, Adams County Clerk Josh Zygielbaum said. He plans to bring the event back next year, bigger and even better.

“It was not as large as I wanted it to be, but it’s our rst year doing it,” he said. “Next year I anticipate we’ll have more.” e 2022 celebration featured a concert and exhibition by muralists Babe Walls and garnered the county the “Non-Fair Facility Usage Award 2022” from the International Association of Fairs and Expos, which recognizes successful events outside of the annual county fairs. is year’s celebration featured a water slide, volleyball, a foam cannon and a drag show leading up to the evening performance by pop star Bebe Rexha.

Denver LGBTQ pop-up organizers Rainbow Dome co-hosted the celebration, building an instant roller skating rink in the parking lot in front of the park’s Waymire Dome and presenting a ash mob there. Zoe Campo, Adams County cultural arts manager said the county brought in the group to help give it a sense of exuberance.

“We think this event is all about fun and joy and that’s what they brought,” Campo said.

A midway along the edge of the parking lot featured tents with county o ces and vendors selling art, rainbow-colored clothing and gear while a handful of food trucks and vendors fed attendees along the other side, closer to the Waymire Dome.

County Commissioner Emma Pinter said last year’s event was centered on the grassy area below the parking lot. is year, the main events tent, the foam cannon and games were still down there but the event itself grew to include much more of the Riverdale park.

“We just found that the tents worked much better on the pavement,” she said. “We’re still learning. It’s our second year, and we’re still working on it.”

Next level

But the key event this year was the Marriagepalooza, the mass wedding. Zygielbaum said that idea came from his department sta .

“We participated in Pride last year, but we wanted to take it to the next level,” Zygielbaum said. “Since we oversee the issuance of marriage licenses for Adams County we thought it could be a great event and we started planning it a couple of months ago.” e clerk’s o ce issued rainbow-colored marriage licenses to the couples that took their vows at the ceremony. Zygielbaum said there was plenty of interest from couples.

“Hopefully next year, we’ll be able to double the size and we hope to be doing the event for a long time,” he said.

One of the couples, Tige Heacock and Jason Godtzinger, said they didn’t initially plan to get married at an event. Heacock said she wanted to get married on June 10, since it was her grandparents’ anniversary.

“We had planned to rent Boetcher Mansion and we went online to nd out what we needed to do for a marriage license and we saw Marriagepalooza,” Heacock said. “We have a ton of friends that we support and some that are getting married this year. We tried to get them to come out today, but they couldn’t. But we wanted to support everybody else and be part of the day.”

Pinter said the event is not meant to be politically provocative but simply to represent people that live in Adams County.

“I think it’s important to celebrate our whole community, and we do all sorts of celebrations throughout the year,” she said. “We just celebrated the opening of a new Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day and we’re about to do our Stars and Stripes for Fourth of July. is is another in the calendar of events where we celebrate our community. And this is very important to let our LGBTQ community members know we are celebrating them too.”