Pride on San Juan Island
Published 1:30 am Monday, June 22, 2026
Pride Month is ending on a high on San Juan Island thanks to the SJI Pride Foundation, with the “Painting of the Rock” event this weekend on the heels of the “Queers in Wonderland” party last weekend. Other events celebrating Pride in June included a Family Pride Picnic and a “Glow with Pride” bioluminescent kayaking tour with San Juan Outfitters.
“Pride Month is about celebration and joy and showing up and being proud,” Dr. Alisha Halverson, president of the Executive Board of SJI Pride, told the Journal. “We want people to be able to engage in ways with one another that feel like they’re building something, not tearing things down.”
Megan Boe, event coordinator, who planned the party along with Memes Bouwman, couldn’t believe how many people came and how well it went.
“It was absolutely so incredible – so many people came!” she said. “James and the Rogue Apostles were the Queens and Kings and Things who did the drag show. It was such an incredible experience to bring them to the islands and let the islands see their magic. It was a dream come true! Everyone was so excited, cheering, laughing. Everybody had the best time! Best party ever, best pride ever. Friday Harbor showed up!”
In a podcast interview in 2015, Craig Schoonmaker, who coined the term “Pride,” shared the story of the term’s inception in 1970.
“We had a committee to commemorate the Stonewall riots,” Schoonmaker told Helen Zaltzman on the 12th episode of her Allusionist podcast. “We were going to create a number of events the same weekend as the march to bring in people out of town, and wanted to unite the events under a label. First thought was ‘Gay Power.’ I didn’t like that, so [I] proposed gay pride. There’s very little chance for people in the world to have power. People did not have power then; even now, we only have some. But anyone can have pride in themselves, and that would make them happier as people, and produce the movement likely to produce change.”
On a local level, Pride looks like a community gathering, sharing, supporting and celebrating together. The SJI Pride Foundation uses 2SLGBTQIA+, which stands for Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex and Asexual. The plus at the end is a way to include all other sexualities that have not been specifically named. The two-spirit addition to the beginning is especially important to the SJI Pride Foundation as a nod to the Indigenous community.
“We want to engage with and support the local indigenous community,” Halverson explained. “As part of that, we are using funds from the foundation to bring a Coast Salish elder to the island to discuss two-spirit teachings in October.”
Gatherings and events have been the bread and butter of the Pride Foundation since its inception, but the board is trying to move toward using (and being transparent about) its funding to help those in need of legal aid or financial aid, and support ideas and events of community members.
“We want to be able to support the community in doing what the community members want, rather than the foundation being the primary impetus,” she said. “What we would really love is to have more community feedback; folks come to us with ideas and then we support them in a way that makes sense.”
They did this exact thing with the Family Pride Picnic, where a group came to them with an idea for the event, and the board was able to help with funds and support. The picnic offered kids activities, games, coloring pages and crafts, food and drink — and all of it free.
“It was lovely — so connecting,” Halverson said. “The folks who put it on really wanted to. That’s the kind of thing we would love to support more. People who have an interest and a passion.”
It’s been a rebuilding year for the San Juan Island Pride Foundation. After a significant shakeup in leadership last summer, the new board has spent many meetings, retreats and strategic sessions creating what they hope will be a steady base for the foundation’s future.
“We were well aware that with all of the activities and all of the work the board had been doing for years, there came significant burnout,” Halverson acknowledged, thinking back to June 2025 when a lot of turnover happened.
“There was a brief moment there where the board members felt like it was in a solid enough place they could step away and things wouldn’t fall apart. And then they stepped away and things did fall apart,” she chuckled. “So we’re trying to be aware of our capacity as individuals and make things less person-dependent and more self-sustaining.”
With their new team and intense planning over the last year, Halverson says the building blocks are there and they’re ready for the community to jump in. She noted that they’ve been a bit insular during these planning stages but are ready for the community to jump in with feedback, ideas and plans.
“Help us help you,” she said, referring to the 2sLGBTQIA+ community members they hope to be providing aid to and working with on events. “We can’t do this alone. We are in this together.”
The final event of Pride Month for 2026 will be “Painting of the Rock” on June 28 at 4 p.m. Regular Pride Foundation events that happen throughout the year include Coffee Chats at Salty Fox, The Reading Rainbow group at the library and the open board meetings. The schedule can be found at https://sjipride.org/events.
