Blue Ridge Pride Center

Blue Ridge Pride Center is the leading LGBTQ+ organisation serving Asheville and the wider Western North Carolina mountain region. Founded in 2009, the nonprofit is best known for producing the annual Blue Ridge Pride Festival each September at Pack Square Park — one of the larger Pride celebrations in the Southeast — but it works year-round as a hub for community resources, advocacy, and connection, including an online resource network for queer residents across the mostly rural counties around the city. As Asheville's dedicated bricks-and-mortar LGBT community centre wound down, Blue Ridge Pride and partners such as the Campaign for Southern Equality took on much of the region's community-support role.