in 2024, Frisco Pride was held at Toyota Stadium. With 2025 as a rebuilding year, Pride at the Patch – Frisco returns to the event’s roots at Grace United Methodist Church
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
After Frisco Pride founders Jon and Justin Culpepper moved to New York last spring for Jon to become chief information officer for the ACLU, Jason Blair jumped in to make sure what had been a successful event continued its success.
Blair said he realized no Pride event in Frisco was going to take place this year; about the only thing that was in place was a scheduled date. But, he said, Pride Frisco is where he found his community, and last year’s event is where he met his current boyfriend. So, with just four-and-a-half months to go, he decided to make sure Pride would happen.
“It made me sad that someone else who was in my position looking for community, wasn’t going to have that outlet,” he explained.
With so little time to organize, he didn’t have the luxury of acquiring the resources of Pride Frisco. So he created a new organization that he calls Pride at the Patch — Frisco. This, Blair said, “is a rebuilding year.”
And by that he means taking the event back to its roots. The first year of Pride Frisco took place at Grace Avenue United Methodist Church, the affirming and accepting church that Blair attends. Pride Frisco held a jam-packed event at the church, then moved to — and filled — Toyota Stadium for its second year.
This year, Grace UMC jumped right back in to help out. But one difference between the first Pride event in Frisco and this year is that the church is not being flooded with the threatening phone calls that it received the first year. Still, Blair said, he expects protesters, and Frisco police are ready for that possibility.
Next, Blair partnered with Building the Bridges Community Services, a Denton County-based non-profit agency that helps fill the gaps by providing food, housing and community resourcing. While most of its services target low-income residents, one goal is to keep people socially connected. And that’s where, Blair saiz Pride fits in.
Pride at the Patch – Frisco is planned as a family-friendly event that celebrates the city’s diversity with “a family-focused event celebrating the beauty of Frisco and the LGBTQ+ community,” according to the church’s website.
To help stage the event, the church put together an Amazon wish list with supplies that would add to the events arts and crafts booths, exhibits and giveaways. Among the items are Pride bracelets, bottled water, protein and granola bars and other snacks, hand sanitizer, stickers, rainbow ribbon and much more. Even small contributions will make people more than attendees but event contributors.
Food trucks, vendors, bounce houses, a pumpkin patch, hay rides, live music, community resources and arts activities will all be part of the mix. Prism Health and Resource Center will be in attendance with its mobile vans. And a dog adoption event will be staged by Habitat 4 Paws, a Humane Society agency based in Frisco, that will be offering free pet giveaways and will have adorable dogs ready for adoption.
Live entertainment will include The Oak Lawn Band and Cathedral of Hope’s a capella group Harmony of Hope, along with Grammy-nominated singer Vaughn Faison.
The organizing committee is still looking for community partners, corporate and small business sponsors, business and non-profit community resources and Pride vendors.
For the week before the event, the church will have a drop off location for donations of clothing for a gender-affirming clothing giveaway during Pride at the Patch. Blair said he expects the event to be a “family-friendly, rich day of love.” He said they still need volunteers and would welcome additional sponsors.
Next year, he said, Frisco’s Pride celebration will be even larger.
“I had less than four months to plan,” he said. “Planning for the 2026 event starts on October 19.”
Pride at the Patch – Frisco takes place from 3-7 p.m. on Oct. 18 at Grace Avenue UMC, 3521 Main St., Frisco. Volunteer opportunities, booths, sponsorships and other information at PrideAtThePatchFrisco@gmail.com.