Philadelphia’s Gayborhood has rainbow-striped street signs and crosswalks to match. Swarthmore has two similar walkways of its own, and Doylestown painted a giant Progress Pride flag in one of its pedestrian crossings.
Pride-themed art installations like these help LGBTQ+ people feel more safe, welcome and included, explained Melissa Patterson of New Hope, Pennsylvania — a town that hasn’t invested in an outward symbol like this yet.
But Patterson, who is executive director of New Hopes Celebrates — the nonprofit that hosts the area’s major LGBTQ+ events and preserves the community’s queer history, hopes to change that. The organization has been advocating for a queer-centered public art installation since 2021.
“We’re a tourist town, in the end,” she underlined. “We’re hoping that we do things to let the LGBTQ+ community and its allies know that this is a safe space for everyone.”
In New Hope, LGBTQ+ History Month in October wraps up with a one-of-a-kind race and celebration on Mechanic Street. Drag queens, laced up in 3+ inch heels, meet on a starting line — pumpkin in hand. The first racer to carry the pumpkin uphill, decorate it, and return to the original location is the winner.
The art installation — with a design from New Hope Celebrates board member, Paul Kokesh and his husband Chris — would feature a checkered banner representing the starting line. The rainbow colors of the Progress Pride flag lines create a set of lines that extend to different lengths, mimicking the way racers run ahead or behind others during the event.
A grant from Visit Bucks County — which leads the area’s tourism efforts — offers the team enough funding to complete the project without any need to tax residents or secure additional resources — but it’s expiring soon. Patterson said Visit Bucks has been “extremely gracious” by extending the grant multiple times in the past — giving New Hope Celebrates more time to get the project approved. However, she believes this is officially their last chance.
On Jan. 21, New Hope Celebrates will present a proposal at a New Hope borough council meeting. Patterson hopes a petition (which has gained 596 signatures as of Jan. 15) will demonstrate just how much support there is for the project. Local business leaders — including those adjacent to the space designated for the mural — are excited about it too.
Responses to the idea and the petition have mostly been enthusiastic — with many supporters taking to social media to celebrate a new opportunity to make a display that honors the town’s values and heritage while creating a lasting legacy.
New Hope, Pennsylvania is the region’s own little Provincetown — a place where locals and travelers enjoy exploring all that small-town America has to offer in a community that’s known for being safe and supportive for LGBTQ+ people. It’s surprising — given that the borough’s history of queer leaders and culture is at the center of its identity — that New Hope doesn’t already have an outward, formal sign to let newbies know what the town stands for.
But Patterson said not everyone has always understood the message. Some opponents have claimed that queer-centered messaging excluded cishet people. New Hope is linked by a bridge and community partnerships with Lawrenceville, New Jersey. When New Hope Celebrates presented the idea to Lawrenceville leadership a few years ago, one councilmember asked if allowing a Pride-themed display would also require the town to feature displays in support of the KKK — a common slippery-slope logical fallacy.
“Don’t compare New Hope Celebrates or a rainbow to the KKK,” Patterson scoffed. “We live here because of the acceptance. It’s what this community stands for.”
“We’re creating a landmark essentially — one that will emphasize the diversity in our community… and that the community accepts everyone,” Patterson said. “We want this type of landmark because we believe it truly represents the town we live in.”
New Hope Celebrates has received hateful and bigoted responses about the project too — conflating LGBTQ+ identity with pedophilia or mental illness and telling organizers not to shove rainbows down their throat. This hostility, Patterson said, actually underlines the importance of visibility.
“There’s a lot of fear in our community right now,” Patterson added, noting the incoming Trump administration and allied leaders are already attempting to restrict and deny LGBTQ+ rights.
Now is “100%” the perfect time, she emphasized, to make a statement that reminds the LGBTQ+ community of the opposite — that they are loved and celebrated.
To sign the New Hope Celebrates’ petition to turn West Mechanic Street into an asphalt art landmark, visit openpetition.org/!newhopepastreetart.