300 turn out for Pride March! Separately, Mendoland greets Peace Run—join the fun and run on Sunday
Wow, the Pride March was huge, friendly, and fun! It was a loving day in which another uplifting event also arrived on Saturday- a non-political run celebrating peace and unity. See the end of the story to see how to join the peace run.
Check out our Video of the big Pride March in Fort Bragg.
The second (likely to be annual) Mendocino Coast Pride Parade drew about 300 people in an atmosphere of pure fun. The Fort Bragg Police Department had officers in units at the front and back of the parade and Frank saw nothing negative, walking the entire event but leaving before the music started. Before and after the parade, there was music, games and fun. The event started in front of Pipi’s Longstockings in Fort Bragg, ran south on Franklin and then up Redwood and over to the Park. We saw many friends and got hugs and had laughs. Three MendocinoCoast.News reporters attended, Cheeser, Brubacker and yours truly., Frank Hartzell. Cheeser was absolutely thrilled and happy and was the star of the event everywhere he went. A dozen other dogs came.
Cheeser (AKA Ceasar when not on the job) is over a year old but still an easily spooked little fella on the inside. The smiling, friendly people made him very relaxed. He is the most sensitive and fearful German Shepherd I have had, out of 6 but nobody at this event scared Cheeser.
He was ecstatic all day and made dozens of new dog and human friends.. About a dozen people from the weekly Saturday protest by Mendocino Indivisible joined the event. Those who stayed behind said they got flipped off three times. A protest is a kind of negative energy. A Pride March is a celebration and the two celebrations felt different in that way.
But Pride Marches actually originated from a violent event when gay and lesbian people fought back against raids by police that targeted what is now called the LGBQT community. Then, that community kept to itself to avoid all the forms of abuse that being open brought. Remember, NYC was a MUCH more violent place in 1969 when repeated police raids of a dive bar owned by the Mafia called the Stonewall Inn was raided once again, but this time the patrons fought back and chased the police away. When a large contingent of police returned, they also were chased away by angry patrons, who were joined by patrons of other non gay bars that spilled out into the street to help chase away the police after a rumor spread that the raids were happening anywhere the cops were not paid off. Riots in Greenwich Village continued for several days.
The police had raided any gatherings of gay people that happened. People were lined up then strip searched in bathrooms to verify their sex. NYC had a law that prohibited people from wearing clothing not manufactured for the gender on their driver license.
These masquerade laws were created to prevent disguises being used in crimes like robberies but were used exclusively against gays who weren’t committing any crime but being themselves.
The next year, the idea of a Pride March in NYC was implemented, to show people who knew little about the LGBQT community that they were peace-loving people who just wanted to be themselves and not be harassed.
Pride Parades caught on in big cities in the 70s, but participants were often subject to being hit with thrown objects, followed, stalked and beaten.
By the 1990s the marches were happening in smaller cities, but small-town parades like the one in Fort Bragg are still quite rare.
In a time when religious, gender and racial minorities are experiencing open disdain from the government, its great to see this kind of community loving.
The International Peace Run returns
Another uplifting moment is an international peace run in Fort Bragg Saturday night and headed up the Coast on Sunday, so be cautious and give them a friendly toot! Or you can join in. They were celebrated in both Elk and Mendocino on Saturday.
Cal Harita Davies at 718-414-3560 to run with them!
Ravenswood Restaurant in Mendocino treated them all to dinner on Saturday.
They then went to Wildwood Campground in Fort Bragg late Saturday, where they are spending the night. They will leave for a trip through town and north to Garberville by Sunday night. Everyone is welcome to join in along the way. There are 10 runners from 8 countries right now, ranging in age from 30 to 61. People join in along the way, making the numbers change everywhere they go.
They run with a strong support crew, which drops them off along the way and picks them up, so nobody runs the entire distance. There are three teams, and one of the two women’s teams will start running on Sunday at 9 a.m, then relay to the next one. The run started in New York in April, ran down to Florida, across to San Diego and now up the Coast to Washington, then back east, ending in New York in August. They will also fly to Alaska and Hawaii after that so they do go to all fifty states.
The Peace Torch never is snuffed and has been on the road since the 1980s.
Check out this fun and refreshing event. They are celebrating America’s 250th birthday as they run through all 50 states. There are sister peace runs in foreign countries.
Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run
The Pride March was organized by the Fort Bragg High School Spectrum Club and sponsored by Mendocino County Safe Space Project, which helped create the first Pride March in Fort Bragg on June 21, 2025.
And it really was friendly. Just ask my dogs! They react right away to negative energy, mostly by wanting to get back to the car. But they both LOVED this happy event.
Brubaker is always on the job and afraid of no man or beast. Down in Mendocino last week, two ladies from the Central Valley had a beautiful, friendly dog with bad social skills. I told the ladies that my Cheeser and Brubacker were super friendly and knew how to socialize.. This was going very well with jumping about and limits being set. The women were delighted. Then this local jerk came up the sidewalk and stepped right in between the jumping dogs and decided not simply to step around us. All three dogs were on the leash but he was a total jerk to the women but never looked at me. “Take it to the street guys” he said angrily as he walked along, nobody else in his way, thankfully.
This kind of negative behaviour scares poor Caesar and is unfortunately, a big part of our world today. But in our town, we can always find art, music and events to uplift, like the two featured today!
