More than 100 vendors, many of which handed out rainbow-hued promo, spilled onto the lawn outside Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, PA, on Sunday to celebrate the end of Pride Month.

Fans, tote bags, stickers, keychains, flags and wristbands were among the Pride-themed promo given out at the event.

A representative from Moment Counseling Center offered informational resources and invited attendees to spin a rainbow-colored wheel for giveaway items like bubbles, flags, tattoos and more.

While The Welcome Project, a nonprofit serving marginalized communities, has hosted the Montgomery County event since 2020, this year’s festivities had a markedly different tone than in previous years, organizers said.

“Right now, I think it’s essential for us to be together and not be divided,” said Josh Blakesley, The Welcome Project’s executive director. “This is an opportunity to have this space where our community members can feel like they’re in a safer space, a braver space.”

Pride started as a recognition of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, the culmination of years of LGBTQ+ activism resulting in six days of protests sparked by a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City.

The event was sponsored by several organizations, including local groups like the Eastern PA Transgender Equity Project and larger companies like Giant and Novus medical services.

More than 50 years later, Pride is celebrated across the country with parades, concerts and dayslong festivals. The rainbows decorating many Pride-related promo products date back to 1978, when politician and LGBTQ+-rights activist Harvey Milk urged artist Gilbert Baker to create a symbol of pride for the LGBTQ+ community. Baker saw rainbows as a flag from the sky and adopted the colors, which each have their own meaning, into the Pride flag. There are variations of the Pride flag for different identities in the LGBTQ+ community, which are represented with their own distinct colors.

Blakesley said Sunday’s event attracts about 800 to 1,000 people each year and was commissioned by the county to increase visibility for the local LGBTQ+ community. In addition to vendors, there were food trucks, arts and crafts stations, and performances from a cheer team, drumline and Yari, a drag performer.

Many attendees were clad in colorful outfits, draped in Pride flags and fanned themselves with rainbow fans to keep cool in the early summer heat. Some toted rainbow IKEA bags, which were handed out to attendees at the company’s booth.

Attendees used rainbow IKEA bags to hold other promo giveaways as they stopped by other booths and vendors.

Jonathan Dean, a local marketing manager at IKEA, said it was the company’s second year supporting the Montgomery County event, which is part of its mission to support the communities it serves.

“IKEA believes in everyday allyship,” he said. “We work with our local communities if we find a group in need that we can go in and provide a possible solution.”

On the other side of the lawn, Flow Wellness Center gave out rainbow stickers, keychains, pins and wristbands with the phrase “love wins” in colorful text.

Jamie Nichols, the local wellness and mental health center’s owner, said they’ve come to the event for the past three years and use it as an opportunity to support The Welcome Project and network with other local businesses.

“We are definitely allies. We work with people,” she said. “Everybody from 3 to 103, families, couples, LGBTQ+ – everybody. We definitely want to support that community in any way that we can.”

On the stage set up behind the art center, upbeat music and guided yoga sessions were interspersed with calls on local legislators to strengthen protections for LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians.

Jamie Nichols, owner of Flow Wellness Center, handed out wristbands, pins and stickers to attendees.

Blakesley said Pride is both a celebration and a protest. He added that he hoped attendees felt like they belonged, or if they had never been to Pride, felt like it was a community that would accept them.

“We’re standing on the shoulders of all the people from Stonewall in New York City,” he said. “We’re standing on our siblings who have continued to fight for continual human rights for LGBTQ+ communities.”