To the dismay of a following that had grown substantially over the years, what was to be the fifth annual Flagler Pride Fest at Palm Coast’s Central Park in June was abruptly cancelled last week through a cryptic, short-lived Facebook post that was scarcely cleared up when what remained of the organization’s officials posted a not-entirely accurate statement attempting to explain the decision on Tuesday, and betraying infighting.
Tuesday evening, Eryn Harris, who had founded the organization and was serving on its advisory board–separate from the board of directors–resigned, the latest in a series of resignations that have reduced Flagler Pride to a shell.
“I’ve resigned from my position as founder and advisory member,” Harris said in a brief interview. She had stepped away from the board last January, along with two other board members–Garett Marinconz and Erica Rivera–ceding the way to a new four-member board plus an events chair and a communication chair. Her aim was to give the new board the chance to take its own road. She would continue to serve perpetually as an advisor, while Marinconz and Rivera were to serve on the advisory board until next month, when that board would be disbanded. (See: “Flagler Pride Installs Its New Board as It Looks To Be a ‘Beacon of Support and Empowerment’.”)
Harris said she left the board “with a smooth transition. Should they follow the instructions that I have given them.”
Late last week Flagler Pride posted that “due to unforeseen circumstances, Flagler Pride Fest 2024 has been cancelled.” The event had started small four years ago, growing each year and drawing hundreds to Palm Coast’s Central Park for a day of festivities, music and speeches. The festival featured popular drag shows until last year, when a state law that has since been blocked by the Supreme Court put the show’s legality in question. (See: “Exuberant Pride Day Follows Drag Night as Palm Coast Goes United Colors of LGBTQ+ in Town Center.”)
Other than asking the community to “continue to support and uplift one another” and noting that the mechanics of cancellation would be addressed–vendor notification and the like–the post gave no other explanation. It drew significant, and significantly questioning, responses as people speculated whether there’d been political pressure to cancel the events, as had been the case with a few such events elsewhere in the state last year.
There had not been. The event was cancelled because of internal turmoil, not external pressure.
A Palm Coast spokesperson was unaware that the event had been cancelled, nor had the city received notification that it had been. But before long, as responses to the organization’s post accumulated in its comment section, the post was taken down, which only fueled more speculation.
Attempts to reach some of the board members on Monday failed. Quinn Vickers, the events chair, said he could not comment, and later apologized in an email, saying the call had caught him off guard as “we had already established that we wanted to meet with our Advisory Team before proceeding with a Press Release about our recent decision to cancel Pride Fest 2024.” Harris and Rivera separately had also said there would be more information subsequently.
By Monday evening the organization issued its cancellation press release: “After the resignation of four out of six board members, including the President and Vice President who were leading the planning stages, the organization has made the difficult decision to cancel the event. This decision comes with the intention of regrouping, rebuilding the board, and returning stronger for future Pride celebrations,” the release’s first paragraph stated.
The release did not explain why Tyler Matthew Jones, the former president, Skyler Loder, the former vice president, Christine Vincent Sikora, the communications chair, and Calvin Vincent Neugent, the former treasurer, had resigned (Sikora explained in a text that commitments in Tampa prevented her from focusing on the organization locally). Maggie Potter, the secretary, was still on the board. But the release did not enumerate by name who had and had not resigned, only quoting and referring to Vickers as the acting president.
Then came the release’s inexplicably caddy–and, according to Harris, inaccurate–third paragraph, which publicly and inelegantly chastised the founder: “The organization extends its sincere apologies on behalf of Eryn Harris, one of our Advisory team members. Harris’s premature direction on the recent social media post without awaiting an official statement from the organization was regrettable and not reflective of our organizational standards. Moving forward, all social media channels will be managed solely by the organization itself, as it should have always been.” (See the full release here.)
Harris said she had not asked the organization to apologize on her behalf, nor had given it permission to do so, nor was aware of the release’s composition, which the organization did not share with her before it was issued publicly, though at that point she was still on the advisory board. As for the initial Facebook post in question, “I did not write the post and didn’t post it,” she said. It had been the result of a meeting involving her, Vickers, Potter, and the current communications chair, Isebelle Brenes–all of whom had agreed on the necessity of an announcement.
“The reason for me wanting to resign is because of the dishonest statement being released on Tuesday,” Harris said, choosing her words carefully. “Pinpointing blame on me for a board-wide decision made it clear that it was no longer an environment in which I could provide my aid productively.”
A Facebook post on an organization’s page is generally regarded as an official statement. Given the threadbare state of the organization at the time, with its only two remaining board members in the room with Harris, there was no “awaiting an official statement from the organization,” since that was the organization. The release may reflect the lack of experience or understanding of public communications by young board members, though its composition and dissemination in Harris’s absence bears at least a hints of malice, or at least calculated intent, as much as haplessness.
Vickers would not answer when asked why Harris had not been included in the meeting that led to the press release, why she had not been shown the release before it was issued, or how he explained its inaccuracies.
The calculation is more sharply apparent as the release pivots from the issue at hand–the cancellation of the event and the public flogging–to an obsequious paragraph showering praise on Rivera and Marinconz, Harris’s fellow-advisory board members, to the exclusion of Harris. The paragraph has nothing to do with the matter at hand and is jarringly out of place, but may point to who is driving what’s left of the organization at this point, if there is one.
Harris said she was not answering questions about whether she had difficulties with the board or her fellow-advisory board members. She stressed this much: “I just wish Flagler Pride all the best. I have faith that the active board is going to regroup and continue its service for the betterment of the LGBTQ community of Flagler County. I wish them all the best.”
Getting clear, non-defensive explanations from anyone still in the organization has been difficult to impossible as wagons circled. On Monday, Rivera, who had asked for the original Facebook post to be taken down, and who urged FlaglerLive to delay reporting the story before the organization could issue a release, said she hadn’t “even sat down to figure out what happened,” but didn’t want to see the organization she said she’d built “fall apart.” The release was soon forthcoming, only to raise more questions than it answered.
Brenes’s contact information is nowhere available on the organization’s website. Potter, when reached, preferred to defer to Vickers who, when finally reached, only confirmed that he had written the release, and who was and was not on the board. He said those who left did so because of “time constraints, job constraints.” But he did not answer questions. Instead, and to every question posed, he read and re-read directly from the press release, automaton-like.
The public response to the release on the organization’s Facebook page was not kind to the organization as commenters, including Abbey Cook, the LGBTQ advocate who’d brightened many a Pride Fest and Jack Petocz, the student activist who led LGBTQ marches and walkouts locally and across the state, criticized the tone and method of the press release–only to be shut down in turn: the comments were removed and further commenting disallowed, a stunning move by an organization predicated on inclusion.
Vickers would not say why the comments were shut down, again reading instead an unrelated portion of the release when asked. He did not say how or when the board would be reconstituted, repeating the words of the release about the board–meaning himself and Potter–taking a “sabbatical.” He did not explain what that meant, or for how long the “sabbatical” would last. In sum, it is not clear how, or whether, Flagler Pride will continue to exist.
janet sullivan says
Oh, goodness. So very sad. Hoping they can see their way back to a healthy and supportive organization. So many people seemed to benefit.
Endless Dark Money says
rebulicons wont stop until you don’t exist. Cant have a parade when they are trying to eliminate your rights and ban your existence and they are in charge of the state and have removed all opposition that is willing to speak out. They have no problem changing decades of precedent in the middle of the night with no public voting or access. They support flying their hate flag while banning ones that show support or love. The stranglehold of these crooks will be the downfall of America. They know they can get 20 million less votes and still declare victory if not its fraud. My bet is they have changed enough laws to ensure their next coup attempt will work and will be the last free election in america. All future ones will be like russia where they watch you vote and dont allow votes for opposition at gunpoint if needed. Its the freedom of not having a choice.
The Sour Kraut says
I don’t disagree with you, but in this case it was strictly an internal matter. It is a shame. With all the MAGA pressure on the LGBT community, the last thing they need is internal strife.
K says
I’m going to say what everyone else who is familiar with this group is thinking….
So this narcissist, Ms Rivera, misrepresented who made the original post and blamed the true founder of Flagler Pride for her own misstep? Then she went on to praise herself? I could have predicted every bit of this. It’s why I stepped back from the organization a couple of years ago.
Perhaps Ms Rivera needs to take a hard look at herself and how she has alienated every decent person who was involved with Flagler Pride. The group lost its soul after she wrested control from Eryn Harris.
It’s time for someone who truly cares about our local LGBT+ community and not advancing herself personally to take the helm. Someone altruistic and humble. Someone who cares about making lives better rather than making a name for herself. Someone who sees the group as a mission of love rather than a stepping stone for herself.
Go away THE Erica Rivera. We’ve had enough of you. But apologize to Eryn before you go. She deserves it.
Deborah Coffey says
This is so sad. We really enjoyed the entirety of Pride Fest. I wish everyone in our LGBTQ community the very best and sincerely hope they can fix their internal problems.
Cynthia says
Not safe to have pride parades or pride events anyway, so sad..
“The FBI and Homeland Security officials are raising concerns that terrorists may target LGBTQIA+ events and venues in New York City during Pride month.”
JimboXYZ says
As I understand it, attendance has dropped for a Festival that has had little opposition. The most I’ve read was 700-800, last years was 500-600 attendees & that included vendors. Was it profitable, because that’s what any festival is really about. There was no drama at any of the previous festivals. FCSO probably wasn’t even necessary for a presence ? Can’t blame Republicans or MAGA or anyone else when most of the attendees are from Volusia County more so than Flagler County. I would think that LGBTQI would have enough leadership, strength internally, but they folded like a cheap Wal-Mart lawn chair on their festival. “Don’t say Gay” can’t be attributed to the cancellation, there isn’t enough opposition to cancel something that was being cancel cultured. LGBTQI needs to step up and hold their Festival, cancelling it because their leader resigned. I think the real reason will come to light that the Festival was not profitable enough. The concept was the festival was supposed to go viral. Non-LGBTQI don’t attend festivals that they don’t care about about one way or another. And they can’t expect Non-LGBTQI types to show up for something that simply isn’t in alignment with their lifestyle choices. Same holds for those that don’t go to church. the non-religious aren’t holding festivals in Town Center and expecting turnout even if they did. They invite anyone that wants to worship and it’s usually at their church property & buildings.
Would be interesting to see what the year on year numbers for the Palm Coast Songwriter’s Festival has done since it’s inception ? We all know Spring Break used to be a big deal in Daytona Beach, I think it’s moved more to NSB ?
Community Member says
While I understand the tendency to question motives in situations like this, previous attendance played no part in the cancellation.