In 2019, LGBTQ Pride Celebrations Grow South Of Seattle

WHITE CENTER, WA — Matt Maring and Jason Loughridge were having drinks last summer inside Mac's Triangle Pub along Delridge Way Southwest when they had an idea: What about an LGBTQ Pride celebration in White Center?

Maring and Loughridge are neighbors living in the White Center area, and they've both seen the neighborhood get much gayer recently, adding bars and events that cater to an LGBTQ community that's looking for fun outside ultra-gentrified Capitol Hill.

They speculate that it was Southgate Roller Rink's (ancestral home of the Rat City Rollergirls) monthly Pride Skate event that first drew the LGBTQ community to White Center. Maring, 37, first got acquainted with White Center at a skate night, and later decided to relocate from his home in downtown Seattle. Loughridge, 43, has lived in the area for about four years. He came after being charmed by White Center's dense main strip along 16th Avenue Southwest.

Just over the last year, two new gay bars have opened: The Lumber Yard Bar and The Swallow, which was opened by the founder of Capitol Hill's Pony Bar. The Capitol Hill weird-carnival bar Unicorn, which hosts popular drag shows, is set to open a new location in White Center this winter.

After those drinks at Mac's last summer, Maring and Loughridge set up a Facebook event page for White Center Pride just to see if anyone would come.

"It was kind of a joke at first. Then people started sharing it and liking it and next thing we knew, 100 people were going and over 500 people were interested," Maring said.

"It was kind of like, if you build it, they will come," Loughridge said.

Now it's real. White Center's first ever Pride kicks off June 5 at 7 p.m. with a LGBTQ flag raising at a small park in front of Mac's. Several days of drag shows, dances, and roller-skating events will follow.

The event is one sign that the locus of the local gay community might be shifting away from Capitol Hill. Tukwila is also hosting its first Pride event this year. Burien Pride, meanwhile, is celebrating its third year in 2019. Thousands attended in 2018.

Loughridge and Maring acknowledge White Center is undergoing gentrification on all sides. Visit on a Saturday afternoon, you'll see the Beer Star tap house packed with families. Anju, a Korean-fusion restaurant, slings kimchi mac-and-chesse balls and craft cocktails. In some ways, they want the neighborhood to stay under-the-radar — but they also want as many people as possible to have fun there.

"I'm very proud to be a part of White Center. For me the more than know about it come the better," Loughridge said.

Here's a rundown of other 2019 LGBTQ Pride month events happening around Seattle:

• Burien Pride — May 31 to June 1
• Capitol Hill Pride — June 1, June 29
• White Center Pride — June 5 to June 9
• Volunteer Park Pride Fest — June 8
• Renton Pride Flag-Making Workshop — June 8
• Tukwila Pride — June 15
• Capital City Pride (Olympia) — June 23
• Sammamish Pride Art Exhibit — June 24
• Trans Pride Seattle — June 28
• Seattle Pride Parade — June 30
• Tacoma Pride — July 12 to July 15
• Seattle Latinx Pride — July 15
• Seattle Black Pride — August 22 to 25

Have an event you want added? Email neal.mcnamara@patch.com.