Buffalo Grove

Teen's Vision Comes to Life as Buffalo Grove Hosts Inaugural Pride Parade

It’s taken nearly a year, but the dream of a driven 13-year-old became a reality on Sunday as Buffalo Grove hosted its first ever Pride Parade.

The parade, sponsored by the Pinta Pride Project, is largely the brain child of 13-year-old Molly Pinta. Inspired by Aurora’s Pride Parade in June 2018, Pinta began a fundraising drive to help fund a Buffalo Grove Pride event, and on Sunday, her months of hard work and determination paid off with a family-friendly parade through the streets of Buffalo Grove.

"This parade really is important because of all the kids who don't have supportive homes and they need to get it somewhere, and this is where they can get it," Molly said. 

The Pinta Pride Project raised all the money for the event, according to the Village of Buffalo Grove website. The aim of the project is to keep the event going in the years to come, and to “make being gay normal and seen,” according to the group’s homepage.

A suburban Buffalo Grove Girl who went to Aurora’s Pride Parade now wants to have one of her own in another suburb. NBC 5’s Lexi Sutter has more. 

Pinta herself marched in the parade, serving as the grand marshal of the event.

Sunday’s parade was set to begin at 10 a.m., and proceeded down Checker Drive from Carry Lane to Ridgefield Lane, according to organizers. A festival entitled “Uniquely Us” was to take place immediately after the parade at Mike Rylko Park.

"Our goal this weekend is anybody out there that's in the closet who's been shunned can know there's a huge whopping crowd of people here in Buffalo Grove they can turn to," Molly's mother Carolyn said. 

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