Thirteen masked protesters carrying a banner identifying them as the white nationalist group Patriot Front protested Saturday Prattville’s first-ever Pride picnic, which had been planned as a celebration of the town’s LGBTQ community.

Anna Evans of Prattville owns a shop downtown that hosted the event on the banks of the Autauga Creek.

About 100 people came to celebrate at what was supposed to be a laid back event. Evans even brought her 3-year-old to wade in the water.

She said the organizers expected some protesters, but thought they would be people they recognized from the community.

Instead, she said the masked protesters appeared to be from outside the city and caused some panic as they marched through town to the picnic site.

“They started walking down the street of downtown Prattville and it was kind of alarming,” Evans said. “People were actually kind of freaked out.”

Patriot Front is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It branched off from other white nationalist groups after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., according to the center.

On Memorial Day, drivers on I-65 near Clanton reported Alabama Department of Transportation signs displaying messages for the group. ALDOT said a contractor’s portable message board was hacked to display those messages.

Patriot Front is reported to be responsible for over 80% of white supremacist propaganda distributed since 2019, by distributing banners, fliers, posters, and stickers.

In July 2022, “Patriot Front US” was spray painted in blue and red letters beneath the 12th Court North bridge in Birmingham’s Fountain Heights community. A month earlier, Wesley Evan Van Horn, of Lexington, Alabama, was one of 31 masked Patriot Front members arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to riot during a Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Evans said the Prattville protesters began chanting something about protecting American virtue and things became tense as they squared off with attendees at the picnic.

Counter protesters from the picnic used colorful umbrellas to try to shield the attendees, Evans said.

Prattville police arrived and told members of the Patriot Front to leave the people at the picnic alone, Evans said. That prevented things from escalating between the two groups.

Evans said she was shocked that Patriot Front showed up to a small event in a suburb of Montgomery and believes the group may have been traveling around the area looking for festivals or marches to disrupt. She believes the event was the first Pride celebration for the city of Prattville and said she would continue to plan similar parties even after the frightening clash with the white supremacists.

“Hopefully if someone showed up again like the Patriot Front we would be better prepared,” Evans said. “I feel like people in the community just need to know who these people are.”