SARASOTA- Despite the rain, Downtown Sarasota is looking a little brighter.
After the rain, comes Rainbows! and ‘Pride Walk’ in Downtown goes beyond the rainbow.
“We wanted to make this especially diverse and inclusive, because we feel that’s how our city here in Sarasota lives, so we added the transgender colors to include our trans brothers and sisters and we also added black and brown lines to include black and brown communities here in Sarasota to show that we are all stronger together,” said Board President of Project Pride, Jordan Letschert.
The 2,500 square foot mural is a visual representation of support for the Suncoast LGBTQ community, and dedication to diversity and allyship.
“I did like 2 percent of the actual painting,” said Artist, Joey Salamon.
Detroit based artist, Joey Salamon, who has created Rainbow Street murals across the country, says he could not have done it without the volunteers.
“That was an insanely, insanely huge help, so all who volunteered thank you, thank you so much, you guys are the ones who did it and made it happen,” said Salamon.
Mayor of the City of Sarasota, Hagen Brody says Sarasota has been a leader in Human Rights
“And we are very proud of that fact, and we will continue to be a leader in that area for as long as we are in office,” said Mayor of the City of Sarasota, Hagen Brody.
City commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch says it’s a step in the right direction
“This is not the beginning, and its definitely not the end, so let’s keep embracing everyone and being stronger together,” said City Commissioner, Jen Ahearn-Koch.
“This is everybody’s downtown, everybody’s community, this is everybody’s crosswalk and I’m so glad that everyone is going to get an opportunity to enjoy this for a very long time,” said Brody.
Pride Walk is located on the five corner intersection of Cocoanut Avenue and Second Street in Sarasota.
For more information on Project Pride SRQ you can visit their website here.
