At Big Gay Hudson Valley, we know that a community’s success is the sum of its parts.
As such, our goal since starting up in 2008 has been to keep our community connected to the wide variety of gay-owned, -friendly, and -sensible businesses, events, resources, and happenings in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley. In order to keep our community connected, we think local first whenever possible. We strive to showcase fresh, original items of interest to our community and also want to give the spotlight to the efforts of local, grassroots organizations that make our region so colorful. We do our best to cover content from Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, and Greene counties.
In turn, BGHV hosts our own events and is proud to share our proceeds with our other friends in the community, making their fundraising efforts as successful as possible.
Stephan Hengst
Co-Founder
Stephan Hengst is the Executive Director of Big Gay Hudson Valley and has spent his career focusing on building community and driving engagement and tourism for brands that include The Provincetown Business Guild, The Culinary Institute of America, Whole Foods Market and Stonyfield Farm. Having established a wide range of business development initiatives in support of the world’s premier queer travel destination, Provincetown, Massachusetts, as the Executive Director of the Provincetown Business Guild, he’s focused on building the Hudson Valley’s reputation as a world-class LGBTQ+ community and travel destination.
Having produced the largest annual event on Cape Cod, Provincetown’s annual Carnival Parade, as well as events like Provincetown’s Annual Pride Celebration, Bear Week, Holly Folly and First Light, Hengst has extensive experience in working with municipalities to attract visitors and drive business growth. Hengst also has extensive community health experience, successfully supporting Provincetown and its businesses as the destination recovered from COVID-19 and then working with health organizations to manage and stem misinformation as related to the emergence of spread of Mpox.
Hengst and his husband Patrick Decker co-founded Big Gay Hudson Valley in 2008 and have focused on creating experiences and promoting resources that empower people to make new connections, explore the Hudson Valley & live as their authentic LGBTQ+ selves. New York State’s only multi-channel resource for regional LGBTQ+ travel, BGHV serves 150,000+ users annually with a community event calendar, local guides and tourism information. BGHV also produces a wide range of events including Out on The Farm, Hung With Care: A Queer Holiday Burlesque Spectacular, The Meet Market Pop-Up Gay Bar, The Gay Gasp Queer Comedy Show and the BARNWOOD Queer Art Show.
In 2024 he established Kingston NY’s first-ever multi-day Pride Celebration as well as Pride In The Sky, the premiere LGBTQ+ pride event on the iconic Walkway Over the Hudson. Spanning Poughkeepsie and Highland, Hengst worked in partnership with I LOVE NY/LGBTQ, New York State Parks and the Walkway Over The Hudson Friends Group to make this event possible, with more than 3,000 attendees joining the celebration.
Hengst also published Big Gay Hudson Valley’s first-ever Queer Travel Maps for Dutchess and Ulster Counties in 2024. More than 30,000 printed maps have been distributed across the region in partnership with Dutchess Tourism, Ulster County Tourism and I LOVE NY.
Always believing in his mother’s advice to be the best gay person that he can be, he’s focused on connecting like minded friends over the years for the betterment of the Hudson Valley community.
Patrick W. Decker
Co-Founder
Patrick loves a good story and believes in the power of clear, effective and fun communication. He began his career developing content for brands like Food Network, HGTV, and Rachael Ray and now works on the technical side of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming services, delivering amazing stories right to the homes of millions of people around the world. As a co-founder of Big Gay Hudson Valley, he pours that same passion back into his community by supporting the company’s website, graphics and overall digital presence.
A food lover at heart, he’s proud to “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry” whenever he can (so much so that it’s tattooed on him – you’ll have to ask where next time you see him). When not working you can find him on a bike or a yoga mat, playing Nintendo or rubbing a furry face – whether it be on a cat, a goat, or while out with friends.
We Believe in Living Our Lives Out & Proud.
Each month, thousands of visitors come to BGHV to learn more about the big gay happenings in the Hudson Valley. We want to be able to connect those visitors with businesses and organizations that serve the interests of – and give back to – our community, so we offer a wide range of targeted marketing & promotional opportunities. With so many gay-owned, -friendly, and -sensible businesses in our own backyard, our goal is to build the region’s community by encouraging our readers to patronize organizations that support them.
