6-10-2025 12:49am

Westwood Pride Event Attracts Large Crowd for Third Annual Celebration

Darlene Cancell Editor

Photo by Westwood Minute/Maddie Mulligan. Westwood Pride Day was held on Sunday, June 8, 2025, on the grounds of Westwood Council of Aging.

By Maddie Mulligan

On most other Sunday afternoons, Westwood Council on Aging’s lawn and gazebo would be silent and unoccupied. But on Sunday, June 8th, booths lined the grass and an enthusiastic crowd milled about as Inclusive Westwood put on its third annual Pride Celebration.

Hosted to celebrate diversity in the community, the Westwood Pride Celebration comes one week into Pride Month. With food vendors, arts activities, acoustic music, and more, there was entertainment for all ages throughout the afternoon. The event has grown greatly over the past three years, this being the first year that Inclusive Westwood has had a drag show and food vendors as part of the festivities.

Enjoy these photos from the event!

Different acoustic artists took to the gazebo to perform for the ever-growing crowd. The sounds of singing accompanied by guitar reverberated down Nahatan Street—the first indication of the celebration to anyone passing by.

Dessert Works crafted up many Pride-themed treats, including these cupcakes with messages of love on them. Also selling cookies, cake pops, and slices of cake, Dessert Works was one of the multiple food vendors attracting the lunchtime rush. Pollard’s Test Kitchen and BiBi Cafe and Bakery were also in attendance.

Westwood Public Library, with its Book Mobile, displayed many Pride-themed books for kids and young adults alike. The Book Mobile was placed across from Pride Poetry, which allowed eventgoers to hone their creativity by writing and decorating their own poems.

Kids could be found crowded around a friendship bracelet–making table, using beads of all colors to make their own jewelry.

The event also featured a face painting area, where many kids left smiling ear to ear. From rainbow hearts to flag stencils, kids used their imaginations to get into the spirit of the Pride Celebration.

Halfway through the celebration came a Drag Show from Patty Bourrée. Providing thorough entertainment with her singing and comedy, the show ended with the crowd on its feet to dance along to “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan.

Many of the booths handed out Pride-themed pins and stickers, such as the ones seen above from OUT MetroWest. Other booths included Westwood Youth and Family Services, who had a spin-the-wheel activity for prizes, and Wellesley Counseling and Wellness.

One particular booth that has attended the event for two consecutive years was a grouping of three religious communities in Westwood: First Parish of Westwood, Temple Beth David, and St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Handing out rocks with different ways to say “love” along with Pride-themed religious stickers, the Reverend JT Hills, Rabbi Karen Citrin, and the Reverend Michael Bousquet all aimed to represent religion at the Pride Celebration.

“All three of us feel it’s really important to have these religious communities represented here. We've had people stop by for people to see that synagogues, churches, and towns are welcoming of everyone. We try to be welcoming, we want to be welcomed, and it’s really important to affirm equality,” said Rabbi Citrin.

All three leaders wanted to show that there are religious communities in Westwood that are welcoming and loving, pushing back against any negative connotations religion can have— especially surrounding the LGBTQ community.

“For me, religion is often something that's used as a weapon against LGBTQ people, and I think it's really important from our faith perspective, from my faith perspective, God loves everybody, and so that means that it's really important for us to be out saying that to people,” said Rev. Hills.

The Pride Celebration even included a dog petting area with two husky puppies. Many of the littler kids sat in the miniature fenced off area, hugging the dogs while parents snapped photos.

Event organizer Meg Lutze, who has been helping to plan the event since its first year, has seen the celebration flourish into what it was this year.

“I was one of the people that started it three years ago, and it's grown a lot since then. So it's really cool, I feel like it was really small the first year, and then a little bigger the second year, and then this is the first year that we had a drag show and food vendors. So it's definitely grown a lot,” said Lutze.

This growth—from a few people milling about the first year to hundreds this year—is all a good sign for an event meant to celebrate an important part of the Westwood community.

“I think it's just really important for the LGBT community in town to have a place where we can all be together and be celebrating them and making sure that they feel supported and welcomed,” said Lutze.

Thanks to Maddie Mulligan, student at Boston College, and head editor for the arts section of The Heights, an independent, student-run newspaper, for contributing this article to Westwood Minute. Ms. Mulligan has joined Westwood Minute as intern for the summer.