The LGBTQ+ community is so large in New Hope and Lambertville area that you can go to any place on a Friday or Saturday night and it becomes a gay bar, jokes Melissa Patterson, president of New Hope Celebrates.
New Hope Celebrates organizes major LGBTQ+ events for New Hope, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey while preserving the community’s queer history, writes Lauren Rowello for Philadelphia Gay News.
The organization was founded in 2003—formed by a group of LGBTQ+ business owners who are promoting the town as an LGBTQ+ travel destination.
New Hope and Lambertville have long been recognized as the area’s own Provincetown, combining the picturesque historic small town America charm with the safety and comfort of a queer-centered community.
“It’s always been a place that I would come to even before I lived here where there was a sense of safety,” Patterson said. “We call it ‘the bubble.’”
Since the 1960s, the town has intentionally cultivated safety and affirmation for LGBTQ+ artists, writers, performers, and business owners.
“We’re here because the arts are welcoming. The arts think out of the box,” said John Dwyer in a video from the Music Mountain Theater in Lambertville.
Find out more about New Hope Celebrates in the Philadelphia Gay News.
