The Big Gay Earth Day Parade

Quinn Bonney & Tyson Lewis | April 27, 2023

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The Big Gay Earth Day Parade April 21 from 11:30 a.m. -1 p.m. Celebrated Earth Month with CORE crew and the QRC crew. The CORE crew as well as many other land crews at Warren Wilson College (WWC) celebrated Earth Day the gay way – with a parade. As a part of WWC’s Gaypril pride month, several crews put on a parade running down the main road of campus celebrating Earth and LGBT+ identities.

The trucks of WWC were full to capacity with students adorning costumes of their crew’s chosen themes. Everything from Drag Queens to Gnome Radicals took to the vehicles and helped host this celebration.

“My dirt sludge is really nice,” Syd Rivera said. “There are some worms in here and bugs, this is the compost hot tub.”

“Earth is the best planet,” Sophia Rowe said.

“Our crew is centered around the earth and being outside so it's like one of my favorite holidays,” Emma Smith on adventure programs said.

“We have Water guns too. We have ivy crowns to hand out to people so they join our gnome movement,” said Ursula Curlin. “Water guns are going to change the future. We’re going to bring down all the giant corporations.”

“Gay Earth Day. Praise painter Dave, Earth Day Gay God!” Jordan Pfenniger said. “Call your representatives about bill 53, Fuck the fascists. Paint Crew Best Crew. We Love the Earth, hate the fascists.”

“I love Earth Day. The Earth is great.  feel like Earth Day should be treated as a national relaxation and immersion into nature day,” Mac Clark said. “Rather than celebratory gunk.”

“The parade is about Earth Day and the love of our planet that we hold very dear,” Otto Crouch said. “Seeing as we’re all Wilson students, a lot of people enjoy it.”

“I think it's a beautiful place and we should protect it better.”

“It's a big mix between a pride parade in celebration of Gaypril and an Earth Day parade which was a big hit last year,” freshman Mac Ware said. “I’m a big fan of the Earth.”

“Earth Day is so fun and it's the best day of the year and we can all get together and have so much fun and splash each other with water,” Ava Bur, a sophomore at WWC said.

“We’re mischievous little gnomes,” freshman Owen Mihavetz said. “We’re going to forage around for berries and steal trinkets from creatures of the forest. Sabotage fossil fuel structures today now.”