Fairborn is hosting its first ever community Pride event this Friday at the Community Park Amphitheater. The event is hosted by Inclusive Fairborn, and will feature speakers, musical acts and drag performances.
There will also be free food and water, as well as educational and health care resources.
Organizer Anaya Tassey founded Inclusive Fairborn last summer, following George Floyd’s death. The committee organized Fairborn’s first Black Lives Matter demonstration, and have been putting on community events since then.
Tassey is originally from Phoenix, Arizona, and identifies as queer and gender non-binary. They said it was hard to find a community in Fairborn at first.
“With this event, you know, we really got to see a lot of community orgs excited,” Tassey said. “A lot of people across different genders, sexualities, races...coming to volunteer, so it's kind of just showing you how diverse Fairborn really is.”
The event is sponsored by PFLAG Dayton, Have A Gay Day and United Church Homes. Tassey hopes this event will not only provide education and entertainment, but also help community members with basic needs.
“We want to work on harm reduction,” Tassey said. “I would love to have an event where we're able to give out NARCAN, clean needles and food and other resources.”
Tassey says this will be the first in many mutual aid events to come.