After three long years of tempered and canceled Pride celebrations in Boston, city officials announced Thursday, the festivities will be back in full force this June.
“We’re looking forward to an amazing month of queer community connection and celebration and deepening our partnerships with the incredible LGBTQ coalition and organizations here in Boston,” said Mayor Michelle Wu at a press conference in BAGLY center Thursday morning.
The events will kick off on June 1 at City Hall Plaza, Wu said, with the first in-person Pride flag raising in three years. Officials will also unveil a photography series that day called “Portraits of Pride” highlighting LGBTQ leaders, which will remain open in the plaza throughout the month.
The city — and likely over a million attendees, Wu estimated — will also see the long-awaited return of the Pride parade on June 10.
The parade, now organized by Boston Pride for the People, will kick off at 11 a.m. at Copley Square and march to the Boston Common.
The day will also feature an all-ages festival with a main stage and vendors at the Boston Common, said Boston Pride for the People representative Adrianna Boulin, and a 21+ party at the City Hall Plaza with a second stage, beer garden and more vendors.
“The mayor and the governor will be joining us, and maybe we’ll see them dancing,” said Boulin. “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
There is still time to register to participate in the parade or festival as an organization, business or individual, Boulin emphasized. Anyone who is concerned about the cost of participating should reach out to the organization, Boulin said, adding “we don’t want cost to be a reason why you’re not able to celebrate.”
More information about the Pride parade and festivals is posted on bostonprideforthepeople.org.
The city is also collaborating to create more events even leading into early July, Wu said.
This includes streamlining and offering support for the event permitting process and the city’s “block party kits” meant to make organizing the events “easier than ever,” Wu said.
The city is also working to support LGBTQ individuals and organizations with Beyond Pride mini-grants, said Chief of Equity and Inclusion Mariangely Solis Cervera, awarding between $500 and $10,000 for projects, programs and initiatives benefitting the community.
Speakers also highlighted the upcoming Massachusetts Youth Pride, which will be marching in the Rose Kennedy Greenway on Saturday, and the Amplify GSA Summit kicking off Sunday.
“This is a coalition that knows there are good days and bad days and is there for our family for all of those days,” Wu said, referencing the broad range of LGBTQ organizations present. “Today’s a good day.”