Your guide to the Philadelphia Pride March and Festival

This year, one of the city’s loudest and proudest events will return.

On Sunday, June 4, the Philadelphia Pride March and Festival will be in full swing with the theme: Love, Light and Liberation. The full-day event will start with a march at 6th and Walnut streets, then debut the largest rainbow flag in Philadelphia history, and finish with an all-day, all-ages festival in the Gayborhood. 

This year’s celebration will be helmed by Galaei, a local organization serving queer, trans, black, brown, indigenous, and people of color. The nonprofit has taken up the mantle for programming under the banner of Pride 365, according to a release, and this new program aims to provide one of the largest pride celebrations in America with “new leadership, new stability and a renewed sense of community and purpose.”

With that in mind, the march (titled the Galaei Pride 365 “Love Light and Liberation” March) is open to everyone in the LGBTQ+ community as well as allies, and it begins at 10:30 a.m. 

The march is an ode to The Reminder Day Demonstrations that were held in front of Independence Hall on Chestnut Street from 1965 until 1969 to raise awareness of bigotry, prejudice, and discrimination toward the LGBTQ+ community and to send the message that “Gay is good.” The 1972 Pride Day March concluded at the same spot 50 years ago, the release continues.

With no floats or vehicles, the march path leaves room for plenty of people to make their way through, and also, meet up beforehand for speeches from community leaders and guests and a land acknowledgment from the Lenape Tribe.

“Pride is more than a party, and it always has been,” said Galaei Executive Director and Community Organizer Tyrell Brown (they/he) in a statement. “At its core, pride celebrates our community’s activist roots in challenging the status quo and celebrating ourselves authentically and freely. Pride is also a resource festival, a space to build community and a way to support one another. Through Pride 365 and the Philadelphia Pride March and Festival, Galaei looks to help bring ‘Love, Light and Liberation’ to all the colors of the Greater Philadelphia community.”

Brown added, “No one organization or individual can own ‘pride’, and Galaei celebrates you, celebrating yourself, community, and the love and light you bring to this world both on pride day and year-round.”

The Philadelphia Pride March and Festival will also debut the largest Pride flag in the city’s history, which will be unveiled with help from dozens of community members and volunteers. The 200 foot-long flag was custom designed for the nonprofit and was made in Pennsylvania.

The festival aspect of the day then kicks off at noon and will run until 7 p.m. Philadelphians can wander through 200 small businesses that Pride 365 has employed, plus, local performers, entertainers, artists, vendors, food trucks, community organizations, and local bars. All of whom will be setting up shop across the Gayborhood from Walnut to Cypress streets, and Quince to Juniper streets, with other select roads closed around the festival footprint.

Like in past celebrations, the festival will also highlight a few dedicated sections including a smoke and alcohol free Youth and Family program area presented by local organizations, and a dedicated Sober Space and dry bar for adults that includes a stage for DJs and performances.

There will also be The Decompression Zone, in conjunction with Disability Pride PA. This specific section is for attendees seeking an accessible, low-sensory respite from festivities. As a release states, this area will feature seating, tables, accessible bathrooms, a cooling station, a wheelchair charging station, and low-level music. 

The festival will also feature medical services and a new space “Bailar con amor,” an ode to Afro-Latinx heritage art and expression. In addition, Philadelphians can also find the return of Kiki Alley (which highlights the history of the Philadelphia ballroom community), plus diverse entertainment line-ups from Sway Philly and BOS Philly.

“We’ve coordinated this effort with much care around pride’s more profound meaning and intention,” finishes Brown. “Pride is many things; we wish to lift up and celebrate it as both a gathering of extended LGBTQ+ friends and family in the community, as well as grounding the event as a resource fair that uplifts and directly supports the most marginalized members of the QTBIPOC community.”

To learn more about the Philadelphia Pride March and Festival presented by Galaei, visit phillypride365.org, or contact them directly at Pride365@PhillyPride365.org.