Your Guide to 2024 Pride Festivals Around the World
Start planning your best summer ever with a far-flung Pride adventure
With June comes Pride, and with Pride comes countless opportunities to celebrate around the globe.
Most major cities host festivities in June that feature activities like parades, live music, parties, street fairs and more. There are lots of ways to celebrate close to home, but if you’re in the mood for a trip this summer, you might consider traveling for Pride — or even visiting a few different ones, since the celebrations are held across various weekends in June. Maybe you want to check out the biggest Pride parade in the world or maybe you want to experience a weekend jam-packed with queer partying. Maybe you want to be part of a 50th anniversary Pride celebration, or maybe you want to see what Pride is like in another country. Start packing that rainbow thong, because no matter what you’re looking for, there’s something for everyone.
L.A. Pride in the Park
Los Angeles, June 8 - 9, June 14 - 15
Los Angeles held the first officially permitted gay parade in the world, back in 1970. Fifty-four years later, L.A. Pride in the Park, set for June 8 and 9, will include a music festival with exhibitors and vendors, daytime activities and an assortment of food trucks and bars. Last year, Megan Thee Stallion and Mariah Carey got top billing, and this year headliner Ricky Martin will shake his bon-bon on stage.
The weekend continues with the L.A. Pride Parade on Sunday, which typically draws more than 150,000 spectators and participants to Hollywood Boulevard. The 2024 theme is “Power in Pride.” When the parade ends, there’s an adjacent Parade Block Party that serves as an after-party to the festivities and a goodbye to the weekend.
“From the colorful L.A. Pride Parade to the powerful performances at L.A. Pride in the Park, L.A. Pride is a living tapestry of acceptance and resilience, and every dollar spent and donated supports [Christopher Street West]’s impactful community work year-round,” Gerald Garth, president of Christopher Street West, the nonprofit behind L.A. Pride, told Pride Source.
For those looking to make a longer trip out of it, L.A. Pride hosts an LGBTQ+ Pride Night at Dodger Stadium and, the following weekend, Pride Is Universal, an after-hours Universal Studios takeover. Both are great excuses to extend the Pride celebrations.
Chicago Pride Fest + Chicago Pride Parade
Chicago, June 22 - 23, June 30
Chicago also hosts its celebrations across two weekends, with its Pride Fest on June 22 and 23 and its Pride Parade the following weekend on June 30. Pride Fest, in its 23rd year, will feature live music across three stages, including performances by JoJo Siwa, Natasha Bedingfield and Bob the Drag Queen. There will be a Proud Pet Parade (with prizes!), a Youth Pride Space for teens, guest speakers, dance exhibitions, and food and merchandise vendors. It’s held in Chicago’s historic gay neighborhood, known as Northalsted, aka "Boystown."
That same weekend, you can also attend Pride in the Park Chicago, a two-day music festival. Headliners are still to be announced, but last year it was led by Zedd and Saweetie and featured a number of other artists like Zara Larsson and Years & Years. If you’re hoping to see the Parade, you’ll have to stick around until the following weekend: the Chicago Pride Parade, one of the oldest and largest parades in the country, is on the following Sunday.
NYC Pride
New York City, June 29 - 30
We would be remiss to not include the ubiquitous NYC Pride on this list. Its inaugural march took place in 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the day police raided the Stonewall Inn, an LGBTQ+ club, and launched what would become known as the Stonewall Uprising: six days of protests and violence that helped catalyze the gay rights movement in New York, the U.S. and around the world.
The weekend celebrations, on June 29 and 30, starts with a nod to young queer people with Youth Pride on Saturday, a celebration of and for LGBTQ+ and ally teens, which will include music performances, carnival attractions, free food and (non-alcoholic) beverages, on Saturday. Specifically youth-focused Pride events are not hugely common, which makes NYC a great place to celebrate for younger people. The weekend continues with the Pride March on Sunday, which in 2019 earned the Guinness World Record for the largest LGBTQ+ march with five million people in attendance, snagging the title from São Paulo Gay Pride (see below!). Detroit's own Baddie Brooks will serve as Grand Marshal at the 2024 march. After the Parade, attendees can head to PrideFest, a street fair with exhibitors, food and activities in the historic Greenwich Village.
Denver Pride
Denver, June 22 - 23
If the mountains are calling, Denver Pride, on June 22 and 30, might be a good option, especially since this year is Denver Pride’s 50th anniversary. It’s the biggest Pride in Colorado, drawing crowds from across Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region and beyond, with 550,000 attendees in 2023. There’s a Pride 5K on Saturday, for those looking to actively show their pride — literally. On Sunday, there’s a PrideFest Parade, plus a festival with more than 250 exhibitors, 30 food vendors and live performances. This year, Denver Pride is partnering with The Rainbow Market Denver to host the first Gayborhood Market.
“It will be a space dedicated to supporting local LGBTQ+ community organizations, small businesses, entrepreneurs, craft-makers and artisans by lowering the cost barrier to access PrideFest participation,” Rex Fuller, CEO of The Center on Colfax, the nonprofit that runs and benefits from Denver Pride, told Pride Source. “The Center on Colfax wants Denver Pride to be accessible to our diverse community.”
Seattle PrideFest
Seattle, June 29 - 30
In Seattle, there’s a two-day, two-location festival on June 29 and 30. PrideFest begins on Saturday in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, with local businesses, beer gardens, family and youth programming, and three stages across six blocks. The next day, PrideFest continues in Seattle Center, functioning as a kind of afterparty to the parade that ends there, with hundreds of vendors and food and drink options. There will be entertainment on four stages, and for the first time this year, there will also be a designated family area for those celebrating with kids.
The Seattle Pride Parade is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and has grown to be Washington’s largest parade. Back in 1974, 200 LGBTQ+ people came together as an act of collective resistance, and the rest was history. This year’s theme is an embodiment of the 1974 gathering’s echoing cry: NOW! If you follow the parade down its route, you’ll end at the aptly placed PrideFest in Seattle Center under the Space Needle.
San Francisco Pride
San Francisco, June 29 - 30
In San Francisco, there are two main events on June 29 and 30, plus an official afterparty and a party inside City Hall. The Civic Center Celebration will be held both Saturday and Sunday, with main stage performances organized by OASIS and San Francisco’s first Drag Laureate D’Arcy Drollinger. On Sunday, they will host Grammy, Emmy and two-time Tony winner Billy Porter on the main stage, in addition to other performers and community stages throughout the weekend.
On Saturday night, Pridegoers can check out the official San Francisco Pride After Party, which will have DJs, dancers and performers from the main stage, before the SF Pride Parade will take its route down the famous Market Street the next day. Also on Sunday, there’s a San Francisco Pride Party at City Hall, for those looking for a unique way to celebrate Pride. On the Thursday before the weekend begins, San Francisco Pride will host its second annual Human Rights Summit.
New Orleans Pride
New Orleans, June 8
The Big Easy is an easy choice for celebrating Pride, with a full day of celebrations that stretches into its parade into the evening. Like San Francisco Pride, New Orleans Pride, on June 8, features a summit on the Friday before its PrideFest and Pride Parade on Saturday. The Black Queer Legacy Summit will include workshops, panels, networking opportunities and exhibits celebrating the legacy of the Black queer community. Pridefest, Louisiana's largest LGBTQ+ celebration, kicks off the festivities with a day of entertainment, headlined by the New Orleans-based Big Freedia, who also headlined in 2019.
Also on Saturday, there’s a Black Queer Community Festival run by Black Pride NOLA, who are organizing the summit as well as parties and brunches throughout the weekend. The NOLA Pride Parade is Saturday night, following Pridefest: it will loop through the French Quarter, passing Community Fest, and end on Bourbon Street. From 7 to 10 p.m., it’s the only parade on our list that happens at night.
Philadelphia Pride
Philadelphia, June 2
Philadelphia Pride, held on June 2, begins the day with a Pride March through Center City, featuring a morning ceremony, a 400-foot Pride flag, music and speeches. The march ends at Philly’s Midtown Village neighborhood — also known as the Gayborhood — for the Pride Festival that begins immediately after the March. It’s another street festival with food trucks, artists, vendors and live performances.
Like New Orleans, Philadelphia Pride offers a compact way to celebrate, with everything happening on one day. Although Pride certainly warrants more than a day of celebrating, if you’re working with a tight schedule but want to make it to an out-of-town celebration, Philadelphia is another great option.
Provincetown Pride
Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, May 31 - June 2 (and beyond)
Provincetown has long been known as a kind of LGBTQ+ epicenter and a favorite destination for a Cape Cod summer getaway. The main Pride celebration is in its seventh year, with events, parties and programming from May 31 to June 2.
But Provincetown celebrates Pride in different ways all summer; if you want to extend your Pride celebrations beyond June, Ptown makes it easy to do so. There’s the MEMDAY Weekend Women’s Festival for LGBTQ+ women and non-binary and trans people (May 23 - 27); FROLIC Weekend for queer men of color (June 13 - 17); Bear Week, which is the largest gathering of bears in the world (July 13 - 20); Girl Splash, an annual summer week for women (July 24 - 27); and Family Week, which is the largest gathering of LGBTQ+ families in the world (July 27 - August 3). It all ends with Provincetown Carnival, which, dating back to 1978, is Provincetown’s original summer celebration of community, expression and creativity, with parties, events, costume contests and the annual Carnival parade (August 17 - 24).
Key West Pride
Key West, Florida, June 5 - 9
Maybe the hustle and the bustle (not to mention the Pride crowds) of a big city like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago isn’t for you. That’s why this list includes the more laidback Provincetown celebration, and another option for a more low-key Pride is Key West Pride, from June 5 to 9.
Just because it’s smaller doesn’t mean there aren’t adequate ways to celebrate: like its bigger peers, Key West Pride includes a Saturday street fair and a Sunday early evening parade. There are lots of smaller events too, including parties, discos and drag brunches. If you need a queer excuse to return, Key West also hosts Tropical Heat, a 5-day party for LGBTQ+ men (August 7 - 11) and Womenfest, for LGBTQ+ women (September 4 - 8).
São Paulo Gay Pride
São Paulo, Brazil, June 1- 2
If you’re looking to take your celebrations international this Pride, São Paulo earned the Guinness World Record for largest Pride parade in the world in 2006, and held that title until NYC Pride surpassed it in 2019. Brazil is progressive when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues: it legalized same-sex marriage and adoption in 2013, two years before the U.S. legalized gay marriage and four years before it allowed gay couples to adopt.
São Paulo Pride, on June 1 and 2, offers Pridegoers the chance to indulge in a weekend full of parties around Sunday’s parade — you can hit a 12-hour marathon party that runs from 10 p.m. on Saturday to 10 a.m. on Sunday, ending just before the parade begins, or if partying after the parade is more your speed, you might check out the city’s most famous pool party, which runs from 4 p.m. on Sunday to 7 a.m. on Monday. If you’re going for a party vibe this Pride, São Paulo might be your destination of choice — plus, you can check "going to one of the largest Pride parades in the world" off your bucket list.
Pride Amsterdam
Amsterdam, July 27 - August 4
For those looking to take it international but not with quite so much emphasis on the partying, Pride Amsterdam, across two weekends, is a great choice. The Netherlands was the first country to legalize gay marriage, and Amsterdam celebrates Pride with a two weekend celebration. The first weekend, July 27 and 28, includes Pride March and Pride Park, a festival in the famous Vondelpark, on Saturday. Pride Park will turn Vondelpark into a Pride haven, with a Rainbow Market, sports and activities sponsored by Sport Pride, and youth activities sponsored by Youth Pride, plus a stage with performances throughout the day.
The celebrations continue the following weekend, from August 2 to 4, with street parties on Friday and Saturday all across the city — there are nine different locations on Saturday and 10 on Sunday, so you can explore the city and stop to party along the way. Amsterdam also hosts a Canal Parade (which, yes, is exactly what it sounds like: a parade of boats through the canals) on Saturday, and the festivities end Sunday with a Closing Party in the central Dam Square.
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