West Cook News

The Village of River Forest is holding a Pride Walk aimed at children. 

The Pride Walk will begin at River Forest Village Hall at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 1. 

“We will raise the Pride Flag, say a few words at the school and then set out on our walk (the walk will take approximately 15 minutes),” an announcement from Trish Ivansek, HR Manager of Village of River Forest, reads. “Route: We begin by crossing Lake Street to Park Ave and then we will proceed north on Park to Oak, Proceed east on Oak to Franklin, Proceed south on Franklin to the playground for refreshments, music and mingling.”  

According to Ivansek, there would be “a large progress pride flag to lead the walk, small progress pride flags to hand out, stickers and temporary tattoos available for the kids.” They will also be serving "Kona Shave Ice in a rainbow of flavors!” for refreshments.

The event is seeking volunteers to hoist a rainbow flag and march around Lincoln Elementary. 

“Sign-up is for D90 Pride Walk on June 1st at 6:00 pm. We need help with set-up, handing out flags, and traffic control during the event. The event will begin with a flag raising at Village Hall and proceed to walk around the Lincoln Elementary block once,” the SignUpGenius webpage reads.

A similar gay pride event was held in 2022. That event included students ages 6-14, in grades kindergarten through eight, and was organized by the River Forest School District 90 "Belonging and Inclusion" committee."

I have no words for the show of love and support our River Forest community brought to the D90 Inclusion and Pride Walk today," wrote River Forest Village Board Member Erika Bachner on Facebook, who says she is lesbian. "Hundreds showed up-- beyond any of our wildest imaginations-- and we celebrated the beautiful diversity and uniqueness of all people!!" Casey Godfrey, principal of Lincoln School, which serves grades K-4, was part of the planning committee.

Bachner is a River Forest trustee and self-described bi-sexual. She has been behind many of the community’s LGBT-themed events. Last winter she congratulated Willard School for introducing a Rainbow Club to discuss LGBT topics with children. 

"It’s an amazing resource and space that I could only have wished for as a child,” she said, West Cook News reported at the time.