it all began with coffee,
as most good things do
In 2019 Caitlin Metz collaborated with Kaplan Trudo, the roaster for Rise Coffee House(rip), on the design for a pride blend called The Dancing Unicorn. This project planted the seed for Pride & Joy.
Fast forward to 2021 Caitlin is now a new parent and working for Rise. They proposed a tiny pride event at the coffee house as a way to honor and celebrate all the people who didn’t get to be themselves as children.
The next year (2022) it grew beyond just drag story-time and a sing-along show to include a community mural, custom flags, yoga, and zine making. We had big plans for 2023, but alas, our beloved coffee shop closed and Caitlin thought that was the end of that.
but all was not lost <3
In 2024 Complete Harmony, a youth yoga studio, reached out and asked if they could help bring Pride & Joy back to life. 🥹
By then, Caitlin had found a new home at another third space, Living Room Coffee & Kitchen. And the rest is history, as they say. The event has expanded each year.
And now, in 2026 we* are throwing our 5th annual Pride & Joy! A day of support, love, connection, and play.
*
a gender studies major turned coffee shop owner and baker (Hannah Larson), a social worker, yogi and advocate of queer youth (Melissa Dierker), an educator, designer, and artist (Caitlin Metz), and a radical community builder cosplaying as a corporate baddie (Bridget Rapp).
(more about us here)
What to help us keep this project flourishing? You can donate, order from our wishlist, or sponsor one of our performers! Have something else to offer? Get in touch!
