New Canaan Pride Kicks Off with Celebration Wednesday at Pesca [Q&A]

New Canaan Pride has put together a kickoff to Pride Month with Wednesday, June 5 Pride celebration at Pesca on Main Street.

We had the chance to chat with organizer and New Canaan resident Genevieve Schettino about what to look forward to at this upcoming event, and an inside look at New Canaan Pride as an organization.

Here’s our exchange.

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New Canaanite: Let’s get straight into it, can you talk a little bit about what this event is on Wednesday night and the group behind it?  

Genevieve Schettino: So this is the kickoff of Pride Month for our town. A couple of years ago—I guess a few years ago now—we started a small group who wanted to show that we’re supportive in New Canaan of the LGBTQ+ groups in town. So we started small and each year with lawn signs and each year we’re trying to step up our game. This year we wanted to do a kickoff for the month. That’s our event on Wednesday at Pesca and we did a trivia event last year at backend and that was super fun. This year we’re going to do the trivia again, but we’re also having the DJ and we’ll have appetizers and first drink on us, and hoping to draw a bigger crowd this year, we had a great turnout last year, but every year we want to just make it bigger and bigger and make sure that the community knows that everyone is welcome and we’re supportive. 

More into the group behind this event, how many members are in the group? How did it come together and how did everyone find this group within the New Canaan community?  

There’s a good amount of us. I think there were a couple of moms that initially started to talk about it and what happened from there was like, “Oh, I know this person would be interested in supporting New Canaan Pride.” And then that person said, “Oh, let’s reach out to her or him, I know they’d be interested.” Honestly, it was a group email that then just people would get added to and offer to volunteer. The first year it was about about the lawn signs and about our stickers in the windows.  And so it was like who can help distribute, who can help collect the fund, you know? So it was just sort of very organic reaching out to those that we knew would want to participate. And then we created the Facebook page, and then you get all this enthusiasm just on the Facebook page where it’s not necessarily a formal membership or anything, but those that are constantly cheerleading and being supportive—like Rock, Paper, Scissors, for example, who’s hosting the trivia, they hosted the trivia last year as well—and so they’re also then promoting New Canaan Pride and supportive of it. There’s roughly 10 of us that are in the group trying to coordinate the activities, if you will.

Do you think the New Canaan Pride group has really gotten really strong over the years? And what about the support for New Canaan Pride itself? 

I think the enthusiasm  and the support has grown tremendously, even just in the few years that we’ve been focusing on it. I think even this year, I had a friend reach out who moved to town, and said, “I really wanna get involved. What can I do? How can I support? This is something I wanna be involved with.” I think we’re going to see more and more of that and I think especially with the younger generation, their openness, and awareness. I think it’s just going to get stronger and stronger. 

What are the goals for the future of New Canaan Pride? Anything to look forward to soon?  

One thing I can say for me, why I felt drawn to participate, is I have a gay brother. He lives in the city, and he now has two young daughters, a 3-year-old and a brand-new baby. I’m always trying to get them to move out here someday, so for me, I want to help provide a community where he and my brother-in-law would feel 100% comfortable moving. My goal is that we are known as a community that’s welcoming to all different walks of life and that there’ll be support and that there’s a place for anyone. I think within the community today, we want to make sure that those that are already here feel supported, loved, and welcomed, and that there’s a place to celebrate.