Ashland School District superintendent leads parade as grand marshal
By Meg Wade for Ashland.news
Residents from across Southern Oregon lined up along Main Street Saturday morning for the SOPride Parade, part of the 15th annual SOPride Festival. Three dozen community groups sponsored floats or carried banners, as residents traveled the street by every mode possible, from rollerskates and skateboards to stilts to horses to 1980s muscle cars.
Ashland School District takes center stage of SOPride parade
Leading the parade this year as the grand marshal was Ashland School District Superintendent Dr. Joseph Hattrick.
This is Hattrick’s second year in Ashland, and it also marks the second year the Ashland School District has participated in the festival. Joining the Pride efforts “really helped me to feel supported as the new superintendent,” Hattrick told Ashland.News while preparing for the start of the parade on Saturday. “And so this has become a tradition now for the school district.”
Asked about why taking part was important, Hattrick said, “For me, it’s really a personal journey—in a time when students could feel voiceless, and for me personally, most of my career, I had to kind of hide parts of myself. It’s really an honor now to be able to be a role model for students, for adults, to show that you can be authentically you. It’s not even about a political statement. It’s just about being kind and showing love and graciousness.”
Members of the school board also joined the parade, and echoed Hattrick’s sentiments about the importance of taking part in Pride.
Pride is “certainly good for our LGBTQ+ kiddos,” board member Deltra Ferguson, “but really, it’s good for everyone. Because it creates an environment that understands that love is at the center … and that it supports things like freedom and justice, that Americans all share and believe in.”
“You know, when I was 16, that was 1976, and that was the first Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco,” Ferguson shared. “And that was also, as I was blooming as a young lesbian. And I feel so lucky—oh, my God, words cannot describe—how good it is to have this level of support and pride for our young people. I mean, I didn’t have that in 1976, and it wasn’t a good thing. But this is a good thing. And it’s good for everyone.”
Behind Hattrick and Ferguson were members of Ashland High School’s Robotics Club.
Senior Heavyn Scherger said that the Robotics Club took part because inclusivity was a large part of what they are about, in addition to having many queer members on their team.
“Showing up at Pride is really important to us, because not only does it show support from us to our community, but it shows support with our team. It’s really important to us to show, even in times like this, there’s a place for everyone and robotics is a good place for that.”
The Queer Student Alliance at AHS carried the giant rainbow Pride flag that led the parade. Holding one edge of the flag, senior and QSA co-president Cora Turner talked about what Pride meant for them this year:
“I think it’s really important that as things progress politically, we aren’t scared into silence. With so much political unrest, now more than ever, it’s important that we continue to speak up and say what’s important to us.”
Turner said she was “lucky to live somewhere like Ashland, where, as a whole, I feel safe” but that the experience of queer youth could still include “feeling othered by general society … like, ‘oh, you’re different.’ And I think being a teenager is already hard and then when you get this added thing of like, ‘oh, you’re different from all the other teenagers.’ People don’t always understand that, or aren’t very sympathetic to what these kids are going through.”
Asked how she would make improvements, Turner pointed to the school curriculum. “Gay people have always been here. And I feel like we don’t really talk about that in school. I’ve never heard anyone talk about the AIDS crisis in any of my history classes, which is insane because millions of people died. It was awful. And that’s a big part of our history as a country. I think that gay people are a part of our culture and history, and I think we need to learn about that culture and history in school.”
Queer community-building extends beyond the festival
Many of the groups marching in Saturday’s event are involved in efforts to create inclusive and queer-friendly community spaces in Southern Oregon throughout the year.
Aubrey Laughlin, who wore a neon green “Dykes on Bikes” T-shirt and rode a bike in the parade, is one of the organizers of Queers & Gears, a new monthly hangout hosted by the Columbia Hotel that includes a bike ride through town to highlight “queer-owned and queer-affirming businesses.” The next ride is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13. Riders should meet in the alley behind the Columbia. Laughlin expects the event might continue as an indoor social during the winter months.
Drive Deviant, who transported many of the day’s performers in the parade, is focused on building an inclusive community for those interested in motorsports. Founded in 2023, the local group has grown to 25 regular participants and an international online community. Vice-president Austin Macleod, of Phoenix, said they were trying to make room in “a very, very closed sport.” The group not only organizes events but helps connect members to “safe shops and mechanics.”
Rogue Trans Outreach, founded in 2024, aims to create a supportive network for those “who identify as transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse, as well as their allies.” In addition to collecting and sharing resources, the group operates an “Open Clothing Closet” aimed at “creating a safe and inviting environment where individuals can explore their style and find clothing that resonates with their true selves.”
Founders Maeve Woulfe and Freya Mathwig said that they’ve seen an increase in support from the local community this past year. Asked what it felt like to be marching in this year’s parade, Freya said, “It feels brave and rebellious. I want people to know that we’re here.”
“It feels f—-ing amazing,” said Maeve.
Other community groups who marched in the parade may not be explicitly focused on queer community, but are striving to make their spaces welcoming and inclusive. Martial arts instructor Jon Merripen of Blade and Fist Martial Arts rode in the parade for his first time this year, after his students organized for the studio to have a float.
“The way I run my school, everyone is welcome,” Merripen said, noting that he has also worked with many in the queer community looking for self-defense tools.
“It’s such an important thing to support everyone’s rights these days,” he said. “I love that my students are here from a place of joy and celebration.”
New and old concerns keep a low-profile
As is tradition, the parade ended with performances at Butler Bandshell in Lithia Park and a lineup of vendors on Lithia Way. Once again, they had to turn away vendors for lack of room, said Cian Murty, a volunteer with SOPride.
New this year for the SOPride team were increased security concerns, brought on by anti-trans and anti-queer rhetoric at the national level. SOPride took a different approach from Medford Pride, in June, which opted to move its festival indoors.
Such a move was discussed, said SOPride board member Gina DuQuenne, but ultimately, they decided, “We can’t live in fear. We won’t live in fear.” The group did bring in plainclothes security, which they had not done before. But as of noon on Saturday, DuQuenne had not heard of any incidents.
On Ashland Plaza, a small group of protestors convened, well after the parade had passed by. The group, known as the Rogue Valley Salt Shakers, has a history of attending the festival with anti-LBGTQ+ signs. And, as has also become tradition, they were met by members of the Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers. Rather than shouting back, the Pepper Shakers take an approach that incorporates dancing and clowning, and makes heavy use of kazoos.
Why kazoos? “They’re portable. They’re inexpensive. You can give them away,” said Juniper, in a clown costume. It was their third year participating in the counter-protest. “They’re inherently funny and laughter is hard to hate. And it’s hard to hate when surrounded by laughter.”
The Pride celebration continued throughout Saturday, with multiple after-parties spread across town. Planning for next year’s event will begin in early 2026; those who are interested in volunteering to help can sign up at sopride.org/contact-us.
Email Ashland resident and freelance journalist Meg Wade at news@megwade.net.
