The Middletown Pride 2020 event has been canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis, event organizers announced Wednesday.
The event, originally planned for June, was moved to August 29 earlier this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but has now been canceled.
It was scheduled to be the second time the city would host Middletown Pride following last year's inaugural celebration.
Middletown Pride includes a parade, entertainment, venors and other activities.
"This was both a hard and an easy decision for us—hard in the sense that we hate to cancel an event that so many people have been looking forward to and working on, but easy in the sense that it was clearly the right call from a public health standpoint—and the Pride committee never wavered in their commitment to put our community’s safety first," Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim, said in a statement. "Even though we can’t gather in person this year, Middletown is still a city that is proud of our diversity and of the unique contributions of our LGBTQIA residents past and present. We will still celebrate and uplift them all the same this June, and look forward to an even bigger, better Pride event in the summer of 2021."
Even though we can’t gather in person this year, Middletown is still a city that is proud of our diversity and of the unique contributions of our LGBTQIA residents past and present. We will still celebrate and uplift them all the same this June, and look forward to an even bigger, better Pride event in the summer of 2021
Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim
Local
Next year's event already has a date on the calendar, June 19, 2021.
“While disappointing, canceling the 2020 Middletown Pride event is the right decision for the health and safety of our city,” said Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth. “We’ll look forward to next year’s event, and in the meantime will continue to celebrate the rich diversity of the Middletown community every day.”
The event is put on by the city, the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and Wesleyan University.
Organizers said they plan to celebrate Pride Month in June through virtual means.
For more information, visit www.middletownpride.org, or follow Middletown Pride on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
