Rainbow Over Wisconsin

Rainbow Over Wisconsin (ROW) emerged from a long tradition of LGBTQ Pride celebrations and community organizing in northeastern Wisconsin. The region, including Green Bay, the Fox Cities and Sheboygan, had hosted informal pride gatherings since the late 1970s, when local gay bar patrons gathered for an “appreciation beer bust” at a rural county park. Over the years, these early gatherings evolved into more organized efforts to celebrate LGBTQ identity and build community.

The “Alive With Pride” picnic in 1995 was the first regional event to officially identify itself as a pride festival. This was an important turning point -- and it inspired the creation of Rainbow Over Wisconsin in 1996. Initially organized by bar owners and community members, Rainbow Over Wisconsin evolved into a nonprofit, tax-exempt community foundation serving the LGBTQ community.

Rainbow Over Wisconsin's stated mission was “to promote the growth and stability of our Les-Bi-Gay community.” Its purpose was to produce fundraising events and other activities, including the annual Alive With Pride picnic, with proceeds distributed to charitable and educational organizations whose work supported the LGBTQ community.

For the next eight years, Rainbow Over Wisconsin continued coordinating annual pride picnics in communities including Appleton, Hilbert and De Pere. At the same time, Rainbow Over Wisconsin expanded beyond pride event production into a broader fundraising mission. The organization brought together area business owners, LGBTQ activists, and community supporters who wanted to strengthen LGBTQ life throughout the region.

Rainbow Over Wisconsin's growing role as a community foundation became particularly important as demand for financial support increased. By 2007, Rainbow Over Wisconsin distributed more than $100,000 in grants to over two dozen organizations to fund over 60 projects through its Community Enrichment Fund (CEF.)  Funding helped make condoms available at area bars, clubs and LGBTQ events through AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin outreach; supported educational programs about domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples; assisted LGBTQ youth programs; provided support for community organizations; and helped fund programs addressing health, emergency assistance and other needs.

Rainbow Over Wisconsin also assumed responsibility for the Guernsey Gala, an annual fundraising pageant that supported HIV/AIDS care through the Green Bay office of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin. 

The organization's expanding responsibilities eventually forced Rainbow Over Wisconsin to make a difficult decision about the future of their pride event. Following its 2003 event at the Brown County Fairgrounds, ROW recognized that it could not continue being a pride producer and a community foundation. As the needs of the community were increasingly diversifying, ROW chose to focus on social responsibility as a community foundation.

Pride planning subsequently shifted to the Argonauts of Wisconsin, which assembled a loosely organized coalition to continue the regional Pride picnics. The transition proved challenging. A licensing problem resulted in the cancellation of the 2006 picnic, while the 2007 event attracted fewer than 50 attendees. In 2008, Rainbow Over Wisconsin took on a new role in the celebration. Rather than directly producing the event, Rainbow Over Wisconsin created the NEWPride Committee under a fiscal agency umbrella with $5,000 in seed money and a brand sponsorship.

The event, now known as Pride Alive, was highly successful in 2008 and 2009. Both events benefited from favorable weather and extensive, positive coverage from local media.  The 2008 Pride Alive celebration also introduced another important Rainbow Over Wisconsin initiative: the first Northeast Wisconsin LGBTQ history display. The exhibit documented the region's LGBTQ bars, organizations, entertainers and community events, helping preserve a history that had often existed primarily through personal memories, community institutions and informal records.

As NEWPride Alive continued to ascend, the Rainbow Over Wisconsin organization seems to have faded away.  Although social media posts continued until August 2022, the organization's last Form 990 was filed for fiscal year 2018. The current status of Rainbow Over Wisconsin is unknown.