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About 185 people from all over came for Erie's 4th Annual Pagan Pride Day on September 13 at St. Nick's Grove, Erie PA. This was down a bit from the number of people attending last year. There was rain for most of the day, which probably kept attendance down. As in years past, the event was sponsored by the United NeoPagan Council of Lake Erie (U-N-C-L-E)

As Pagans, we believe that everything is interconnected and that it is important to give back to the greater community. We collected 114 pounds of donated goods and $100 for the Second Harvest Food Bank of NW PA, and we also had the blood mobile from the Erie Community Blood Bank.

There were a number of classes and workshops presented, including Stones and Healing by Sandra Lee, Walking the Labyrinth with Intent by Cindy, Energy Work by Jason, Incense by Margo, Kid's Krafts by Morrigan, Healing by Rev. Jane, History of Neopaganism by Raven and Carrion, and Belly Dance Basics by Carlala.

Once again, we had a very popular Celebrating Diversity Panel Discussion about different paths in the NeoPagan and related traditions. Panelists included Ruth (Solitary), Cindy (Family Tradition), Dr. Neal (Spiritualism), Chris (Discordian), Maureen (Reiki) and Margo (Avalonian.)

There was an opening ritual celebrating the different traditions represented.

We added a bardic competition this year that was run by Carrion. Night won the poetry category. TJ won the story competition.Maureen and Tia won the song competition. Everyone did a terrific job! All of the winners donated their prize money to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

We also added a Kubb tourney. 1st place went to Team Bradford, 2nd place to AL and 3rd place to Batgers. Winners donated their prize money to Second Harvest.

In addition, Margo set up a meditative labyrinth walk, as she has for the past 2 years. The geese appreciated the labyrinth after the event as it was made from bird seed.

Gypsy RaQ performed some wonderful belly dance at the end of the day.

Vendors included Mohr & More, Reiki by Brian, Massage by Julie, Scentsations, Heeters Haven, Hughes Pottery, Crafts by Rachel and Tear of the Moon. Readers included Rev. Jane, Sandra Lee, Deb Olon-West and Lisa van Curen.

As you might expect from such a large event, we had many volunteers! Thanks go out to Carrion, Luna, Diana and Marisha for running the kitchen. Security was staffed by Konkol Welding. The registration table was staffed by several members of Erie Pagan Moot, including:  Rae, Livvy, Alicia, Night, Shelby, Kelly, and Maggie. Thanks to Marti for her wonderful work in putting out the calendars and Lucky Pot Cook Book. Thanks to Cindy for designing the program.

We will be posting photo and video from the day. Please check back.

If you would like to be involved with next year's event, please email PPDCoordinator@u-n-c-l-e.org.