Sequim Price Celebration returns Saturday to Farmers Market

Published 3:30 am Wednesday, June 24, 2026

By Emily Matthiessen

For the Sequim Gazette

A prominent Olympic Peninsula businessman will lead the Sequim Pride Celebration this weekend as its grand marshal.

The annual festivity will take place at the Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market in the Sequim Civic Center plaza at 152 W. Cedar St., from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, June 27. A ceremony will be held at noon, concluding with a procession marching west on Washington Street for two blocks and back to the market, led by Curt Queyrouze, president and CEO of First Fed Bank.

David Ham, spokesperson for Sequim Pride, a small group of volunteers who organize the event each year, said that Queyrouze’s professional stature and integrity make for a strong symbolic choice for the leader of the procession.

“Someone who is out and proud in the professional community here on the Olympic Peninsula shows young people that you can be professionally accepted and live authentically in this rural community,” he said.

Queyrouze said in an interview, “It’s important to show people you can be whoever you want to be and there will be people in the community who will keep you safe and lift you up.”

Founded in 2022 by Michael Lowe, Sequim Pride is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, and will always be scheduled for the fourth Saturday in June, Ham said.

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is the primary sponsor of the event, and Ham said collaboration with the Sequim Farmers and Artisans Market is key to its longevity.

“There is so much positivity and connection during the event, it’s one of the things I love about Sequim Pride,” Ham said. “I look around and see that it’s really meaningful for people to attend.”

About the event, Queyrouze

Organizers say the celebration is designed to be family-friendly, intergenerational and inclusive of all, including people who identify as one or more of the 2SLGBTQIA+ rainbow (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, plus), allies and others who enjoy a happy event.

Sequim Pride will host a booth at the market where people can find information, receive free swag, participate in activities, and/or sign up to volunteer in the future.

About 10 organizers spend months planning the event, Ham said, adding that if more people get involved the likelihood of having other activities during the year increases.

Speakers at the ceremony include Queyrouze, Lowe, Adam Bernbaum, incumbent state representative, D-Port Angeles, Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias, and representatives of the Sequim High School Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) which will be the recipient of a ceremonial donation.

Queyrouze said he’s taken part in many pride events in other parts of the country but this is his first year at Sequim Pride. He became First Fed’s CEO 10 months ago and moved to Port Angeles with his husband and their two teenage children in December. He also has an adult daughter.

Queyrouze observed that the turnout on the Peninsula for community gatherings, like cultural events and fundraisers, is much higher than he’s seen in other places he’s lived.

About Pride, he said, “These events are full of joy, celebration, and people laughing and expressing themselves in ways that are unique, and if people come with an open mind they will see that.”

He said that “Pride is an important human emotion: being proud of who you are and proud of your identity.”

Queyrouze expressed pride both in living as an openly gay man and his profession as a community banker.

“I do think it is a noble profession,” he said. “On the whole, a strong impact can be made. I’m really enjoying seeing what this bank means to the communities it serves.”

First Fed celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2023 and Queyrouze said its team members are very active in the community while “donating tremendous amounts of time.”

He said that First Fed supports the organizations its employees are involved in too.

Queyrouze grew up in New Orleans, son of a small community banker and a schoolteacher. He said at age 34 he came out as gay, fearing that his career in finance would be over. Instead, he found that he could live a life fully expressing both identities.

He said that being visible and speaking up for the most marginalized members of the community are highly important.

At Pride celebrations, Queyrouze said, it is important that allies come too.

“It’s a strong sign of acceptance for the biggest advocates of our community to be visible,” he said. “They’re joyful events and they’re meant to be, and it’s important that we go out there and support them.”

Ham said organizers want potential participants to know that “This is a place where you belong, this is a place where you are safe, this is a place where you are celebrated for who you are.”

Find more about the group on Facebook and Instagram @Sequimpride.