Rainbow flags, confetti, and bubbles covered Main Street in Patchogue as local organizations marched for the third annual Patchogue Pride Parade on June 8.

Hundreds of people from groups including Free Mom Hugs, LI Pride Lions, local churches, and more marched beside the Pride flags that hung along lamp posts and storefronts on Main Street in Patchogue, from Route 112 toward Holbrook Road, in a day of celebration for the LGBTQ+ community.

“With everything going on, this parade is more important than ever this year,” said Patchogue Pride Committee co-founder James Diele-Stein.

This year’s grand marshals were a mother-and-son duo, Michelle Cavaleri and Chris Genovese, who were chosen for their careers of giving back to the community while heading the Southshore Counseling Center in East Patchogue, the parade organizers said.

Representatives from the Village of Patchogue, including Patchogue mayor Paul Pontieri, along with the 2024 Patchogue Pride Parade grand marshals Al Milite and José Pagan, and 2023 Patchogue Pride grand marshal and Bellport Village trustee, Cheryl Felice, opened the parade in rainbow-covered vehicles, waving to the crowds that packed out the sidewalks.

Organizations like Stony Brook Medicine and Planned Parenthood, both of which sponsored the parade, set up booths to distribute flags, pins, and health resources to members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Many spectators who lined up on Main Street also donned colorful headbands made with pipe cleaners that they had created at a booth hosted by the Patchogue-Medford Library, after grabbing other freebies, such as rainbow sunglasses and stickers.

Celebrity impersonator Linda Axelrod provided commentary of the parade, alongside Patchogue Village Business Improvement District executive director David Kennedy, as an almost identically looking and sounding Joan Rivers. The parade was coincidentally hosted on what would have been the late comedian’s 92nd birthday.

This year’s Patchogue Pride Parade marks the launch of the nonprofit organization Long Island Equality Inc. by the organizers of the Patchogue Pride Committee. Committee co-founders James and Ronald Diele-Stein stated that this organization will support the LGBTQ+ community throughout the year, not just in Patchogue, but also around the island.

The decision to expand into a larger nonprofit came to accommodate the growing services and events of Patchogue Pride, which operated as a part of the Greater Patchogue Foundation, the charitable arm of the Patchogue Chamber.

Since 2023, Patchogue Pride has grown to include events throughout and leading up to Pride Month, including a candle-making social at AR Workshop in Patchogue on June 17, and a Pride Mass at St Paul’s Episcopal Church last year.

“It started out as a parade, but once we started doing events leading up to the parade, we realized that there’s so much more that we can offer our community,” James Diele-Stein said.

Since January, the Diele-Steins, along with the other members of the 17-person Patchogue Pride Committee, have been working to make the nonprofit a reality. This process has become difficult, the organizers said, as government agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, face funding cuts.

The organizers said it took them around five weeks to sort out the paperwork, which they were told would have only taken a few business days to complete, despite following up every few days.

Finding sponsors for this year’s parade has also been more difficult than previous years, the Diele-Steins said, as many businesses and nonprofits told them they had limited money to spend, or were afraid of public backlash for supporting Pride, even though the parade organizers said there’s been fewer instances of dissent against them hosting a Pride parade.

Businesses like White Claw, which sponsored $20,000 for the parade last year, and Walmart, which donated around $10,000 in 2024, withdrew their support for the parade this year.

Despite the financial setback, the organizers were still able to pull off one of Patchogue’s largest celebrations and are looking ahead to what their new nonprofit, Long Island Equality Inc., can do to give back.

The Diele-Steins said they’d like to provide scholarships, starting at the Patchogue-Medford School District, along with a day camp for kids.

“It’s a mission,” Ron Diele-Stein said.

“It’s really about providing spaces year-round,” James Diele-Stein said.