Benton Harbor City Commissioners have been asked to provide some clarity to The OutCenter of Southwest Michigan after it says it was denied use of Dwight P. Mitchell City Center Park for its Pride Fest this coming summer.
OutCenter Program Director Gerik Nasstrom addressed commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting and said last year’s Pride Fest encountered problems when “provocateurs” showed up and caused a disruption. Police did not intervene, but Nasstrom said organizers of this year’s Pride Fest were making plans to prevent a repeat when they learned the city isn’t going to allow the event to be hosted at City Center Park again.
“In November 2024, we submitted our park application for Pride Fest 2025, only to find out several weeks later that it was being held up by the city manager and the director of public safety,” Nasstrom said.
Nasstrom said he was later told by City Manager Alex Little that Benton Harbor would no longer host “certain events that present special problems” for the city at that park. He’s had trouble reaching Little since.
“We have made every attempt to reach out to the city manager on this issue, emailing him on January 29th, February 3rd, February 4th, February 7th, and February 11th to no reply. Here’s the text from the body of those emails.”
Nasstrom asked commissioners for information on what constitutes “certain events and special problems.” He also asked them to explain how the OutCenter’s Pride Fest qualifies as a “certain event” that poses “special problems.”
Commissioners did not respond as Nasstrom’s remarks came during the public comments section of the meeting and commissioners, by policy, rarely respond to inquiries at that time.
We’ve reached out to The OutCenter to find out if it’s looking for another location for this summer’s Pride Fest.
