First Adams County Pride draws crowd to West Union park
A June 13 Pride celebration at Adams Lake State Park in West Union gave Adams County its first local place for LGBTQ+ residents to gather, find resources and be seen.
Pride did not require Adams County residents to leave home this year. The first Adams County Pride celebration filled the Adams Lake State Park Shelter in West Union on June 13, giving local LGBTQ+ residents, allies and families a county event built around visibility, support and a place to belong.
The gathering grew from Manchester native Jalyn Thacker’s memory of rural isolation. He said he grew up in a small town without a safe place to connect with other LGBTQ+ people or allies, and that he spent years driving nearly an hour, sometimes farther, to reach Pride-related events in other communities. That experience pushed him to bring a celebration back to Adams County.
Organizing started in the spring of 2025 after Thacker reached out to a local Democratic Party member. The first planning meeting drew just four people. By June 2026, that small beginning had become a county event with a clear local purpose: to make support and celebration available closer to home for people who had long had to travel for it.
The day was designed as more than a symbolic flag-waving event. Organizers prepared 100 swag bags packed with resources from sponsors, but the turnout was stronger than expected and the bags were gone by the afternoon. Nonprofit groups also provided materials, turning the event into a place where families could pick up information and connect with support without having to leave West Union.
The festival included a talent show, arts and crafts and games, but one of the most telling moments came when a planned drag performance fell through. Thacker said the stage was opened to attendees instead, a shift that he said worked well and made the day feel more like a community gathering than a formal program.
For a rural county where many residents have historically needed to travel to larger cities for Pride events, the West Union celebration marked a practical change. It gave Adams County a local place to be seen, to gather safely and to find resources within the county itself.
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