Project Pride debuts ‘Pride Crosswalk 2.0’ in Sarasota

(Photo courtesy Project Pride)

SARASOTA | Following the removal of Sarasota’s PrideWalk last year, LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Project Pride has installed its “Pride Crosswalk 2.0” on the back of its Rosemary District headquarters.

The vibrant mural, which was painted on the back wall of Project Pride’s offices facing Central Avenue, was installed as a part of the December 2025 PINCfest, an event hosted in the Rosemary District that celebrates creativity and community. Each year since the festival’s founding in 2022, numerous murals have been painted that invite conversation, public interaction and pay tribute to the area’s history.

Leaders of and community members involved with Project Pride have responded passionately to the erasure of community art, including the local PrideWalk in downtown Sarasota. It was Project Pride who engaged the City of Sarasota and fundraised over $100,000 for the historic installation in the spring of 2021.

In the wake of its removal, as well as the erasure of the Pulse Memorial crosswalk in Orlando, the nonprofit held the “Compassion at the Crosswalk” protest at the crosswalk’s former location in October of last year.

“When our Pride crosswalk was painted over, it was more than paint that was erased; it was an attempt to silence visibility, pride and belonging,” said Tom Edwards, Project Pride’s Executive Director. “The removal of LGBTQ+ public art is not about public safety. It’s about making any trace of DEI toxic, erasing visibility for targeted communities, repudiating the perception of belonging if you are an ‘other.’ But we will not stand for the erasure of the identity and self-esteem of our community’s youth.”

The mural was designed and painted by Joey Salamon, the artist who painted Sarasota’s Pride Crosswalk in 2021 as well as a pride crosswalk on the property of Harvest Sarasota/Harvest House Centers last year.

“We are grateful to DreamLarge and to Joey for helping to make our new mural possible,” Edwards said. “We hope that this beautiful piece of artwork will go at least some way toward making our LGBTQ community feel seen, welcomed and appreciated.”

At a Tiger Bay luncheon on March 5, Edwards will serve on a “Our Sidewalks” panel with Sidewalk Art Festival Founder Denise Kowal, sidewalk artist Beck Lane and retired publishing executive and past president of the Laurel Park Neighborhood Association Kelly Franklin. The conversation will cover the erasure of the downtown Pride crosswalk.

Read more and view photos of ‘Pride Crosswalk 2.0’ courtesy of Project Pride below: