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When Donna Friend helped organize Holly Springs’ second-ever pride festival in September 2025, she was blown away by the turnout. The celebration began with a parade from the Food Lion parking lot up North Main Street toward the Holly Springs Cultural Center, where a crowd was already gathering for an afternoon of music, games, and food.
“As we’re walking up, we’re seeing people waving, and we’ve got more people joining us as we go, and as we’re rounding the corner, we had no expectation that there would be like 1,000 people when we got there,” Friend remembered.
“And the people on the other side had the same reaction as they’re watching us round the corner. We probably had 250 people with us. It was amazing.”
In the recent past, Holly Springs wasn’t exactly known for being queer friendly.
Four years ago this Pride Month, the Town Council declined to call a vote on Wake County’s nondiscrimination ordinance (NDO), which would have banned discrimination against the LGBTQ community, among other groups, within town limits, even as most other municipalities in the county greenlit the ordinance.
Three years ago, then-Mayor Sean Mayefskie issued a proclamation titled “Pride of Holly Springs” which noticeably failed to mention the LGBTQ community.
But a lot has changed. The nonprofit Pride of Holly Springs, which Friend chairs, is gearing up to host its third annual pride festival this year. The town finally passed the NDO in February, and in May, Mayor Mike Kondratick issued a real pride proclamation, the first in town history.
“Our community is strengthened by our residents’ rich diversity, and LGBTQIA+ residents and visitors should feel valued, safe, empowered, and supported by their peers, educators, employers, and community leaders,” the proclamation reads.
In an interview with the INDY, Kondratick credited the Pride of Holly Springs organization for advocating for the passage of the NDO and for “helping council members understand the importance of the LGBTQIA+ community to Holly Springs.”
The nonprofit formed in early 2024 with Jack Turnwald as its chair and Friend as vice chair. Turnwald was fresh off a narrow Town Council election loss; passing the NDO had been central to their platform.
“We all were feeling that the town was just really not accepting of the LGBTQ community,” Friend said. “No matter what we did, we couldn’t get the NDO signed, couldn’t get a pride proclamation done, and we said, ‘OK, we’re going to start creating a safe space.’”
Past iterations of the festival have included food trucks, local vendors, a kids zone with arts and crafts, live music, and resources from LGBTQ-affirming organizations like PFLAG and Hope for Teens. Friend said the 2024 event had 750 participants with 25 vendors, and 2025 had…
