June Floods Affect Pride in Iowa

Storms across the state cause rally cancellations

Severe storms and flooding in Iowa prompted Pride committees in two cities to cancel or postpone festivities scheduled for June. Across the Midwestern state, at least 45,000 square miles were flooded, and an estimated $4 billion in damages was sustained by the agricultural sector alone.

In Iowa City, in the eastern part of the state, floods cancelled all Pride events planned by the Iowa City Pride committee for June 21, including a parade, rally and festival. The group’s website said that the events were cancelled “out of concern for public safety and transportation issues.” As an alternative, on June 20, the Iowa City Pride committee prolonged a fundraiser, “Coming Out” to Help Our Community, to help recover local flood efforts.

Also affected by the floods was Capital City Pride in Des Moines, in central Iowa. Though their Pride events were scheduled to take place the second weekend of June, flooding caused Capital City Pride and Des Moines authorities to postpone the PrideFest Street Party and the PrideFest Parade until October 4 and 5. The events, which annually draw about 10,000, now will coincide with National Coming Out Day on October 11.

“We felt as a committee that we didn’t want to be celebrating in the midst of people losing their businesses and homes,” Cyndi Wiley of the Capital City Pride committee told GO!


What Do You Think?