Trina Gregory paints a heart Sept. 15 at Se7enBites for Parking Spaces for Pride. (Photo by Aidan Carmody)
ORLANDO | Se7enBites owner Trina Gregory dedicated all 49 of her business’ parking spaces to support local artists and the LGBTQ+ community Sept. 15 for Parking Spaces for Pride.
Se7enBites is a southern sweet and savory restaurant located in the Milk-District that was featured on Food Network’s “Diners Drive ins and Dives.” The event honored the 49 lives lost at Pulse and was announced after the Florida Department of Transportation removed the interim memorial’s Pride crosswalk.
“I just wanted to give someone an alternative instead of feeling so angry and like things were being taken away,” Gregory says. “This was something that they were getting, that they could continue to come back to see and appreciate.
“I did not imagine that this is what it would be, we had over a thousand artists reach out from all over the world,” she continues. “I’ve had phone calls from men in Kentucky who are like, I wish I lived in a safe city, to phone calls and emails from England.”
Artists submitted their designs before the event to participate, which Gregory and her team then narrowed down to 49 finalists. Participants spent the entire day outside from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. painting their parking spaces. At the end of the event, all attendees voted for their favorite space by placing colored tokens into the artist’s bag.
“To say that I am grateful for it would be … the biggest understatement,” Gregory says. “I am in awe of what just a small amount of kindness and love … could do. It’s crazy.”
Passionate creative local artists showed their individuality through their designs while being friendly to attendees who approached with questions.
“It’s really easy to feel disconnected, especially in the climate that we live in today,” participant Megan Hernandez shares. “So I feel like being able to come out here, do something I love and portray a strong message about community and authenticity, it was kind of like a no-brainer.”
Hernandez is a local artist whose Florida wildlife-inspired piece won third place in the competition. Artists who were in the top five crowd favorites were invited back next year to paint again as Parking Spaces for Pride will be an annual event. Every artist participating was outspoken about LGBTQ+ rights.
“You may not understand someone’s point of view or why they choose to be who they want to be, but you’re not really in a place to question it because everyone belongs, whether you understand it or you don’t.” Hernandez says.
Many artists gave the attendees the opportunity to help paint rainbow hearts on their designs, including intersex activist Juleigh Mayfield who painted an intersex flag on attorney Dr. Irene Pons‘ Come Out with Pride-themed parking space. Pons and Mayfield worked together on a landmark case where Pons helped Mayfeild win her request for a gender marker change on all her legal documents, including her birth certificate.
“It’s important to come out and make sure that intersex is definitely represented as well because it gets lost sometimes in the rainbow,” Mayfield explains.
Each parking space was treated with anti-graffiti spray after the event was concluded to ensure they would be safe until next year. The public is welcome to come view the artwork and visit Se7enBites all year. Next year’s event will have free admission for the public and host 44 new artists.
“While I don’t want to make it political, I also can’t really sit idly by and not do what I’m capable of doing, and it’s clear that others want to do it too,” Gregory says.
Watermark Out News attended the Parking Spaces for Pride and you can view our photos below.
Photos by Aidan Carmody, Bellanee Plaza and Kay Yingling.
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