Celebrating his eighth year as Executive Director of Aurora Pride, Zander Oklar has seen it grow into an event that offers beachside views that draw in thousands of people.
Oklar had a key role in the creation and organization of the first Aurora Pride in 2017. On the first Aurora Pride he says “…I started doing the GLBT Chamber of Commerce’s annual gala, and this was in 2016/17. I was working that, and Jerry (Cunningham, former OFM owner) was a part of the chamber with OFM, so he reached out to me and he said, ‘We had an event planner, but he just moved away from Denver. And so we have just a few months left, but we need to make sure that happens.’ So I came in super last minute. We were able to make it happen in just a couple months, and I just never stopped doing it.”
The early years of Aurora Pride were put together under pressure, but the event has grown to be arguably the most unique Pride in the state. Oklar’s hands-on role since the first Aurora Pride certainly aided in the event’s continuing success. Aurora Pride is now the third largest Pride in Colorado, but the event was originally much smaller and without the unique location it now boasts.
Oklar says, “We started off at the municipal center which … is basically the area that has City Hall and where City Council meets. They have a big grassy area, and we were setting up there. We would have a couple stages and a couple small bars, food trucks. The very first year we did it, we had probably around 1000 attendees. And we just slowly kept building.”
After two years at the municipal center, Zander and others decided to “host Pride in a space that feels more unique to Aurora and also differentiates Aurora Pride from other Pride festivals. After getting a lot of different approvals from different people in the city, we decided we’re going to start hosting at the reservoir, and we’ve done it there ever since.”
He adds, “Because we’re at a reservoir, we are a beachfront Pride. The only beachfront Pride in well over 1000 miles … and so our event really started to grow because it’s just a really unique experience that you can’t get anywhere else in Colorado.”
Attending CSU in Fort Collins, Oklar’s connection to the queer communities in Colorado digs deep into his past and remains strong today. He has done non-profit work within the local LGBTQ+ community for years and wants to uplift queer communities spanning from the mountains of northern Colorado to the plains of eastern Colorado.
At this year’s Denver Pride, Oklar was braving the blistering heat to bring resources to folks in need of gender-affirming healthcare. He will also be connecting with the community, providing resources, and celebrating this year’s Aurora Pride. Oklar enjoys the celebration but also adds that providing resources and health care to LGBTQ+ people is just as significant.
“Yeah, we love it; it’s a beach party, and we do beer bust and sell tickets for local Colorado breweries and stuff like that. But the most important thing is just connecting those people—connecting that person who’s dealing with a gender journey, making sure that they have access to gender-affirming health care. That someone who’s in the closet and might not be used to practicing safe sex all the time can get their monkey pox vaccine; they can get signed up for PREP; they can get STD testing on-site. Someone who’s dealing with homelessness can find organizations that support homeless LGBT (people). And so we tried to just get all those things in one area so that we can really support the community in any way we can.”
Aurora Pride is a great resource for LGBTQ+ people that allows people from all walks of life to be themselves and foster community. Just as important as the resources provided, the community built at Aurora Pride provides inclusivity and support for queer youth.
In previous years, the local youth gender expression organization Dragutante has performed at Aurora Pride. Oklar says, “My favorite memories of our Pride are around Dragutante … They do this one performance, which is called the Daddy Daughter Performance…(and) one of those children, their dad was a fireman. So, the dad, this big, burly man, dressed up in drag with his child, and then the whole fire engine full of firefighters came and watched the performance. We had all of these firefighters here to support this one firefighter’s child and their performance. It was so heartwarming to see the support from people that you might look at and not originally think that they’re gonna be supportive of us. But just to see them out there in force supporting this child was just amazing. And then, at the end of the day, all the kids in their drag ran off the end of the pier and jumped in the water … so just to be able to provide that and to support them was real special for us.”
As this year’s Aurora Pride comes into full force, Oklar welcomes families to “bring their young children, whether they are openly queer, or they’re questioning or neither” and “show them the queer community is just people trying to live our best lives. We’re not something to be scared of. We’re something to be embraced and celebrated.”
Photo courtesy of Veronica L. Holyfield
