Spokane Pride spreads love at Lake Coeur d’Alene with Pride Cruise

One of the best parts of the annual Pride Cruise is when other boats on Lake Coeur d’Alene recognize Spokane Pride’s rainbow-decorated vessel and “buzz” their boat, said Matthew Danielson, Spokane Pride executive director. He directs everyone’s attention to those boats, so they can, “scream ‘Happy Pride!’ and spread love, ironically enough, in North Idaho, which I think is overarching why this is a special event,” Danielson said. “These small-town pride events are really, really important.”

Danielson has run the Pride Cruise for the past 10 years, which he estimates has been running for 25. On Saturday, Spokane Pride will continue its tradition of kicking off Pride month with the cruise. Spokane Pride typically hosted the cruise during the day, but Danielson moved it to 5 p.m. so more people would be encouraged to attend North Idaho Pride Alliance’s Pride in the Park, which runs from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in Coeur d’Alene Park.

“We can draft off of each other’s events and make them both stronger and put more allies in town,” Danielson said.

Danielson said they are conscious of event security. At the time of the interview, Spokane Pride was responding on Facebook to the defacing of the downtown LGBTQ+ flag street mural, and he pointed out that violent acts against the LGBTQ+ community aren’t exclusive to North Idaho.

“Obviously, you worry because stuff could happen,” Danielson said. “But, for example, there was a protester last year yelling at somebody just having a good time on their way to the boat. And one of the bystanders that was just there with their family was like, ‘What are you doing? They’re just trying to, like, live.’ ”

The cruise started as just music and dancing, but over time, they’ve added drag performers and karaoke, Danielson said. This year, Dainan Beard, a Spokane Pride board member, will DJ for the cruise, under the name DJ Great Dane. Beard already DJs every other Saturday at nYne Bistro and Bar.

“It’s fun for me because I just get to connect with a lot more people that I don’t usually get to connect with, in order to show them my art,” Beard said.