ABOUT
FORT WAYNE
PAGAN PRIDE DAY
Fort Wayne Pagan Pride Day
is an annual event in Fort
Wayne, Indiana that serves to celebrate and educate about pagan and earth-based religions and beliefs. FWPPD features many pagan and non-pagan vendors and classes surrounding pagan topics, as well as inclusive rituals that vary in topic and focus from year to year. FWPPD also features many pagan and non-pagan musical artists and performers, both local and from other parts of the country.
Our mission is not only to educate, but to de-stigmatize pagan belief systems by opening them up to the local community. All who are respectful, tolerant, and willing to learn are welcome to attend and partake in the days festivities.
After 10 years of the Fort Wayne area going without a Pagan Pride event, Fort Wayne Pagan Pride Day (originally “Fort Wayne Indiana Pagan Pride”) was started by it’s inaugural committee in 2014. The first 2 years of this event were held at Memorial Pavilion in Memorial Park, and in 2016 the event moved to Conklin Pavilion in Shoaff Park.
In 2017, after 3 successful years, the event was transferred to it’s current committee and renamed to Fort Wayne Pagan Pride Day, and has been going strong ever since, hosting many pagan musicians and bands, ritualists, ordained ministers, workshop presenters, and an abundance of vendors of whom come back every year!
FWPPD HISTORY
Meet the Coordinators
All of the coordinators for Fort Wayne Pagan Pride Day volunteer their time to this event to make sure that it is a great as it can be!
Here is where you can learn a little bit about us and learn what we look like so you can come up and say hello at our next event!
Rev. Jewels
Local Coordinator
Rev. Jewels has been involved in Fort Wayne Pagan Pride Day since its inception in 2014, either as a planner/coordinator or vendor. She has been part of the Pagan scene in Northeast Indiana since 2009, when she came out of the broom closet. Since that time, she’s completed her ordination as a Pagan minister through Circle Sanctuary, a Nature Spirituality church in Barneveld, Wisconsin and helped found Three Rivers Pagans, a local social group that welcomes Pagans of all varieties and those that are Pagan-friendly.
She resides in Fort Wayne and works as an academic advisor at a local university. Rev. Jewels identifies as an Eclectic Witch and teaches a myriad of Pagan-based classes, as well as reading tarot monthly at a local oddities shop.
(she/they)
Ken
Vending & Local Co-Coordinator
Ken has been a practicing Pagan for 25 years. He is an eclectic witch focusing on herbalism, poisonous plants, and nature based magick. He is an elder of Three Rivers Pagans and has been involved in the group since 2014.
Ken has been a Fort Wayne Pagan Pride Day Planning Committee member since 2017, and some of his roles include booking vendors and communicating with them about the event.
(he/him)
River
Administrative Coordinator
(they/them)
River is the youngest member of the FWPPD Planning Committee, and though they do not currently follow any specific spiritual path, they consider themself to be a Secular Pagan, believing in the sacredness of nature, without having a belief in literal deities.
They have been a member of the current FWPPD Planning Committee since the committee took over the event in 2017, taking the role of Administrative Coordinator, managing the online aspects of FWPPD including the website, Facebook page, t-shirt shop, and creating any graphics and flyers that the event needs.
They are an artist, craftsperson, musician, and a practiced broom maker who focuses on harvesting materials for their brooms as sustainably as possible.
Anaya
Entertainment Coordinator
Anaya has been involved in Fort Wayne Pagan Pride Day since 2017, and has been the FWPPD Entertainment Coordinator since 2018. Anaya grew up in Indiana and lives just south of Fort Wayne. Anaya follows an eclectic path and has found a niche in ecstatic ritual.
(she/her)
Shawn
Ritual and Workshop Coordinator
(he/him)