It’s been a year of firsts for Redlands’ LGBTQ community, and many are working to make sure it is not also a year of lasts.

What started in November with the election of the Denise Davis, the city’s first openly LGBTQ City Council member, has led to the city’s first Pride month proclamation, a LGBTQ-themed night in the monthly Pub Talk series, and now the city’s first Pride festival set for Saturday, July 27.

Festival committee member Dc Lozano said the group was following the momentum.

“We said ‘You know what, the city is ready for it’,” she said.

Most people she has talked to support the event, but there has been some opposition on the internet.

“I really don’t try to buy into that stuff very much because it’s easy for people to say all sorts of things on social media,” Lozano said.

Co-organizer Rabbi Lindy Reznick, of Congregation Emanu El in Redlands, said there have been some people “who find our presence and acknowledgement of it threatening,” but “overall, I think our city has been going through a transformation, and most people are pretty excited.”

Councilwoman Davis, who moved to the city in 2002 to attend the University of Redlands, says the campus gay/straight alliance that she co-founded showed her early on that social change was possible “when people are willing to listen to the lived experiences of others.

“That’s why it brings me great joy that the city is in a place where there is an outpouring of support for the Pride festival,” Davis said. “I’ve always felt that the campus was a few steps ahead of the community when it came to overall acceptance, so this shift in perspective, even if slow, means a lot.”

Lozano said the event will likely have a police presence, just in case, but said she’s “not fearful in any way that that’s going to be necessary.”

Organizers have a plan if protesters show up, she said. That is to ask allies to hold hands and stand in front of demonstrators to “fill the world with peace. Sing a song, do whatever, but stay super friendly and nice and you know, ignore it.”

Places of worship also are taking strides, with several celebrating Pride month this June.

Organizers are encouraging inclusive members of the faith community and any other allies to attend the event.

“There’s a lot of hurt and bad feelings from the community when it comes to certain religions,” Lozano said, so organizers are planning an interfaith intermission with an invocation of acceptance “for all of the people who want that and can gain a little bit of healing from a statement like that.”

Reznick said it’s a key part of the festival.

“I think it’s important in this city, called ‘the city of churches,’ that people understand that there are welcoming spiritual homes and places of faith where they can both be involved and also express their identity fully and openly,” Reznick said.

Organizers are keeping the event family friendly to be more inclusive.

“We don’t want to be invisible or hide the reasons that we would have a Pride festival, but there’s not going to be some of the more overt stuff that might happen at a Pride festival,” Lozano said.

That being said, they’ll have a couple of drag queens performing.

“That’s going to be the extent of the ‘wow factor’,” Lozano said.

A stage with bands will be headlined by Hoity Toity and Thic Hums at Ed Hales Park, and singer/songwriters performing at Augie’s Coffee Roasters. Davis, the councilwoman, will speak, as will Abigail Medina, executive director of the Inland Region Equality Network.

An after party is planned at The Vault, which will offer Pride-themed drinks. Several businesses in town will have Pride-themed menu items.

Augie’s plans a Pride brunch before hand, Bricks and Birch is making a giant rainbow cake and Stell Coffee & Tea Co. will have rainbow-themed deserts on special that day.

With all the support, organizers are already working on plans for next year.

The future is also on Davis’ mind. A measure of her success, she said, would be not only breaking down the barrier but opening the door for others.

“I’ve been speaking to a number of different high school and college groups about the importance of running for office, especially if you’re from a group that has been historically marginalized,” she said. “Representation in government matters, and it also matters that community events like the Pride in the Park festival are continued year after year.”

Organizers understand the historic nature of what they are doing, Lozano said, and so are trying to archive all of their documents “just in case, you know, somebody wants to put it in the museum.”

IF YOU GO

What: Redlands Pride festival

When: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, July 27

Where: Ed Hales Park, corner of East State and Fifth streets; and Augie’s Coffee Roasters, 300 East State St.

Information: facebook.com/redlandspride