Dogs in rainbow tutus. Art stations. Food vendors. And seven different Newton congregations, side by side, staffing tables at the same event. That's the scene the Rev. Dr. Eric C. Jackson spotlighted in his Sunday column — a Pride flag raising five weeks earlier that brought faith communities together in a way worth celebrating.

Eliot Church of Newton, First Baptist Church, First Unitarian Society, New City Church, Newton Presbyterian Church, United Parish of Auburndale, and Union Church of Waban all showed up at the Community Resource Fair accompanying the June 3 flag raising at Newton City Hall — some on their own, others under the Newton Interfaith Leadership Association banner. The free event ran from 5 to 7:30 p.m. with art stations, food vendors, and community information tables scattered across the lawn.

Mayor Marc Laredo told the crowd: "We raise the Pride flag today because Newton is and will remain a welcoming city where every resident, and I mean every single resident, has the right to feel safe, live openly, love whom they love and be treated with dignity, respect and fairness."

Jackson, senior minister at Eliot Church since November, wrote that Newton's residents aren't politically, socially or religiously uniform — but they share a genuine curiosity about each other. The Rev. Cheryl Kerr, president of the Newton Interfaith Leadership Association and senior minister at United Parish of Auburndale, said the interfaith presence reflected a shared sense of belonging across very different theologies, built on that same curiosity.

Eliot Church, founded in 1845, holds an Open and Affirming designation from the United Church of Christ. Jackson invited residents to keep the conversation going over coffee after the 10 a.m. Sunday service at Eliot Church; he can be reached at [email protected].