Pagan Pride fest Sept. 22

The sixth annual Salt Lake Pagan Pride Festival — with workshops, vendors and an Interactive Deity Altar — will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 22 at Murray Park.

The annual harvest festival this year also is commemorating the Veterans Administration decision to make the Pentacle, a nearly universal pagan symbol, an approved insignia on the grave markers of fallen pagan soldiers, according to festival spokesperson Rita Morgan.

All activities are free and open to the public and will take place in Pavilions 1, 2 and 3 in Murray Park, 495 E. 5300 South. Attendees are asked to bring one or more nonperishable food items for donation to Crossroads Urban Center, or a new or lightly used children's book for the Midvale Literacy Project.

The event is affiliated with the International Pagan Pride Project, a global effort to reduce discrimination against pagan religions. This year's event is sponsored locally by Rainbow Chalice CUUPS, the Utah Alternative Spirituality Substitute, UUCO Pagans of Ogden, Greenhouse Effect Coffee Shop and Crepery, and Spellbound.

Modern paganism, says Morgan, is a rapidly growing spiritual movement based on combinations of ancient polytheism, modern eco-spirituality and reverence for the divine as both masculine and feminine.

For additional information, visit www.paganprideslc.org.