In downtown Carrboro, the local government recently hung banners on the street posts in support of LGBTQ+ pride month. 

The flag design is a Progress Pride rainbow, and also showcases the new Carrboro marketing/values logo. The flag depicts the vibrate colors of the rainbow as well as black, brown, blue, pink, and white stripes in an adjacent triangle to the left on the flag. 

It was designed by The Splinter Group who created it as part of a Brand Guidelines update for the town, which the Carrboro Town Council approved in May. The Carrboro Communication and Engagement Department created the layouts of the colorful banners.

The town shared a video on Wednesday of the banners being hung, featuring Mayor Damon Seils.

 

For seasonal occasions like Pride Month, Juneteenth, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Earth Month, July Fourth, Hispanic Heritage and Bike Month, Elizabeth’s Cotten’s Birthday, and other local festivities the banners will be put up. The Public Works Department is in charge of hanging the banners throughout the year.

Along with the Town of Carrboro, Chapel Hill will also be displaying pride flags on Franklin Street. This decision was chosen by community members directly through a survey. Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit, chose which pride flags to display through an online survey.

A google form allowed community members to chose between different pictures of flags as well as leave comments. Over 150 people took the survey and their were over 700 responses to the various choices.

The most desired flags were the Progress, Transgender, and Lesbian Pride Flags. Through June these flags will hang on Henderson Street in support of Pride month.

Carrboro and Chapel Hill aren’t the only towns in the area celebrating Pride month. This Summer the Town of Hillsborough will hang a variety of banners downtown to celebrate Pride month as well as other holidays.

Between the dates of May 25th-June 1st the U.S. and state flag banners will hang to recognize Memorial Day, June 1st-15th the Pride banner to recognize LGBTQ Pride month, June 15th-21st the U.S. and state flag to recognize Juneteenth, June 21st-29th the Pride banners will return for pride month, June 29th-July 6th the U.S. and state banner will return for Independence Day, and July 6th the town banners will resume.

Pride Month was first recognized by the Town of Hillsborough in 2018. In 2020, Juneteenth was recognized as a paid employee holiday. Two years later June was labeled Pride Month. And in 2021, Duke Energy stopped the Town of Hillsborough from hanging flags on electrical poles. Because of this drawback the banners are hung on poles that previously held flags.

In April 2021, the Board of Commissioners in the Town of Hillsborough voted to buy and hang 30 Pride flags on various streets to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride month.

The Town of Carrboro has hit a couple drawbacks in terms of hanging flags as well. In October 2021, the North Carolina State Board of Elections sent a letter asking for the removal of the Black Lives Matter flags from Town Hall. The reasoning behind this was because Town Hall is a local polling site, therefore a mandatory buffer zone. The state has laws in place to ward off voter harassment and requires 50-feet apolitical zones at polling locations.

However, the Black Lives Matter flag still hangs at Town Hall.

Some pride events coming to the town this June are ORGULLO LATINX PRIDE Saturday, June 10th from 5-9 p.m. at Carrboro Town Commons, Pride Celebration at Carrboro Farmers Market Wednesday, June 14th at Carrboro Town Commons, Pride Piper Walk Friday, June 30th at 4:30 p.m. at Carrboro Century Center, and Pride Food Truck Rodeo and Dance Party Friday, June 30th from 5-8 p.m. at Carrboro Town Commons. 

For more information about the banners contact the Carrboro Communication and Engagement Department at communications@carrboronc.gov

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