Suki Skye says she and her wife Katya decided Tiburon needed a pride celebration — so they created one.
On Saturday, they will play host to the Tiburon Pride Picnic, the town’s first pride event of its kind.
“Ever since we moved here we really just felt a pretty significant lack of pride-related activity happening in Tiburon,” Suki Skye said. “We kept, to be honest, complaining about it to ourselves and thinking, gosh, it just seems so sad. Like, I know there’s a pretty strong queer community in Tiburon and definitely in Marin.”
The picnic, scheduled for 1 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Shoreline Park, comes on the eve of June, widely recognized as Pride Month in honor of LGBTQ+ people.
The Skyes are the owners of Dacha Kitchen and Bar, an Eastern European restaurant in San Francisco. They have been living in Tiburon for six years.
Suki Skye said she and her wife are the type of people to identify a problem and do something about it when others won’t, so they came up with the pride picnic.
“We’ve definitely found a very strong and supportive community of both queer folks and our allies, it’s just that it’s not super visible,” said Skye. “We didn’t feel that here and we wanted to create it.”
The event will kick off with an “intention setting” ritual to invite good energy into the day, Suki Skye said. Participants can write their intentions on the ground with chalk at 1 p.m.
The celebration will include music from DJ Kirill, snacks, vintage clothes, pride umbrellas, tarot readings and hand-painted T-shirts for sale. Local businesses such as Caffe Acri and Highlow Larder will sell picnic boxes for visitors who don’t want to bring their own provisions.
The event is family-friendly and open to all ages. The Marin LGBTQ Center will also be present to support the event, and a portion of the proceeds from T-shirt sales will go to the center.
After the event, the Cinelounge movie theater will hold a party from 4:30 to 6 p.m. with music, food, drinks and art.
“I think having an event like this, and having this kind of presence for the LGBT community in Tiburon, is really important because there is a community here and its wonderful to see people getting behind that and supporting it and just having a fun time,” said Cinelounge owner Camilla Jackson. “You don’t see an incredible amount of diversity in Tiburon, so something like this really excites me.”
The Tiburon Pride Picnic is the first of several pride events in Marin in June. Tiburon, Novato, San Rafael and Mill Valley plan to hold flag-raising ceremonies.
Mill Valley plans to hold its third annual, family-friendly Pride Mill Valley celebration from 2 to 6 p.m. June 6 at the downtown plaza.
On June 7, Joy House, a quarterly queer community gathering, plans a pride dance party from 3 to 6 p.m. at 145 Rock Hill Road in Tiburon.
In San Rafael, the California Film Institute at the Smith Rafael Film Center plans a series of LGBTQ+ films on June 12, 13 and 14.
Also, the Downtown San Rafael Business Improvement District is planning its third annual Pride Art Walk Puzzle and Celebration from June 5 to 30. Businesses will have pride-themed window displays that come together to reveal a quote from LGBTQ+ civil rights leader Harvey Milk. Participants who solve the quote and turn in a pride map have a chance to win prizes.
On June 14, the San Rafael Public Library is planning its Read with Pride event in partnership with the Marin County Free Library. The event will be at the Marin County Civic Center farmers market from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Shani Boyd, supervising librarian, said the event is open to all ages and will feature the bookmobile, face painting, Zumba, music, crafts and more. A librarian will read LGBTQ+-related stories for kids.
Boyd said the work fits in with the library’s goals of celebrating different types of heritage. Along with the event, there will be display tables in both the children’s section and upstairs area of the downtown library in San Rafael featuring books related to Pride Month.
“It’s important because we celebrate all cultural and heritage months throughout the year, and the pride community is one,” she said. “The libraries are welcoming and accepting to all.”