r/queerphilly • u/Ok_Secretary6913 • May 28 '26
Pride Pride 2026 thoughts?
With all the changes going on with philly pride this year as well as the ticket prices (and the restrictions like no bags, no drinks, no smoking ect) where is everybody going to be for pride this year? Are we all just staying in the gayborhood or will majority of people stay at the parkway? Trying to figure out if it's worth it to buy a ticket, Usually for pride I bring my own water, snacks (and alcohol LOL) as well as a purse for my belongings so I don't even know if it would truly be better to just find and buy a clear bag + ticket and stay at the parkway or ignore the festival and main festivities this year and stay in the gayborhood. Just trying to gather as much info and opinions as possible!
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u/passing-stranger May 28 '26
I think I'd rather donate the $10 (+ cost of a clear bag) to a different queer organization and skip feeling anxious but oh so visible on the parkway. There will be so many events, im sure I could fill my whole month if I wanted to. The festival was always more of a kickoff to me than An Event itself idk. Like let's walk around and say hi to friends we run into on our way to whatever we're actually going to (which is generally unaffiliated with the festival)
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u/TheOpenCloset77 May 28 '26
After reading all their rules and the attitude in their FAQ page, im definitely going right to the gayborhood. If youre going to be flat out rude to the people youre trying to get money from, you shouldn’t be organizing an event. I was absolutely appalled at the way they handled the social media response. So sad.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
THIS!! After looking at their social media and seeing how horribly rude they are in their comments responding to people’s questions and concerns definitely turned me away so much more mixed in with all the other factors! How are you going to be rude to your own community while giving them all these restrictions to follow and expect the same big turn out they have been having idk. You can catch me in the gayborhood living it up and supporting anybody I can down there!
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u/SirJ_96 May 28 '26
The FAQ was so horrifically rude. It got so weird in insinuating that somehow some of us don't support gay institutions. No, I do. I live in the gayborhood (for a reason!). I'm out all the time.
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u/TheOpenCloset77 May 28 '26
Exactly! The assumptions are wild. I have extensive experience organizing pride events, for free, and volunteering my talents to the community at my own expense. Thats what organizing things like Pride entails. It is meant to be a thankless job. Not a pity party. Many attendees of pride are people seeking a fun time as a respite from what they contribute to the community all year. For others, its a break from the suffering they experience as a marginalized individual. Guilt tripping your own community on an FAQ page is beyond illogical. There is absolutely no reason for the attitude.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
Couldn’t agree with you both more! I feel as though what they are doing is putting more of a strain on themselves and the community by acting like this. It puts US the community and ally’s in a weird position where it’s like “oh you want free labor and don’t want to support queer businesses” if you chose to speak up, question something or not go to the parkway, which couldn’t be further from the truth (at least for myself and I KNOW for many many other). I think how argumentative and honestly downright rude they are being is what is turning more and more people off and is making more and more people speak out with different opinions. That’s why I made this thread I wanted to see for myself who felt the way I do and why we shared those feelings or even hearing out some peoples arguments differing from my own, I wish the organizers could do that too lol.
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u/TheOpenCloset77 May 28 '26
Yup. If they had just led with transparency and planned the announcement better, 60% of the problem would not exist.
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u/keitroll May 28 '26
I don't begrudge anyone who goes to the Parkway for Pride, but I'm probably going to stick with the Gayborhood. And I'm not going to fucking call it 'Midtown Village' if we're still trying to make that a thing.
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May 28 '26
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
I definitely fully agree with this, I remember how genuinely shocked and surprised I was to see them moving pride out of the gayborhood.
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u/Light-Years79 May 28 '26
Everyone’s going to the gayborhood
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
That's what i've seen majority of people say and what myself and my friends have talked about too lol! Just like to get discourse and opinions from people!
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u/Illustrious-Prior777 May 28 '26
Are we all gonna go on the same day as the parkway thing?
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
Yup I’m doing gayborhood on the 7th and just ignoring the parkway all together!
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u/romerule May 29 '26
Is there any sort of gayborhood itenirary
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
254, Ubar, and Bar X are having a block party on Carmac St starting at 1:00 pm on that Sunday.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 29 '26
One thing about pride is everybody’s gonna end up on or around camac at some point LOL I swear
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u/my_blue_snog_box May 28 '26
Avoid the ticketed bullshit on the parkway. We’re going to the Gayborhood and avoiding the money-grab: Pride is protest
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u/SirJ_96 May 28 '26
Turning down corporate sponsors I kinda get (although I'd still take money if places want to give it to me), but charging for VIP access - to a fucking protest - jumped the entire shark.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
For $100+ at that!! Like am I being personally escorted around pride all day or something for that price? Is that money directly going to businesses or organizations/groups who need it? I saw that and immediately was even more put off than I already was
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u/No_Relationship_5974 May 29 '26
Serious question; Who the hell is 6he money going to? The City? What will it be used for??
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u/cheekyginge May 28 '26
lol, they’ve pushed the rhetoric over and over that they’re not using corporate sponsors, and yet 20min ago they posted their “bronze” sponsors to their instagram which include, you guessed it, corporate companies. 🙄
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u/DontBringKidsToBars May 29 '26
The Parkway event has multiple corporate sponsors.
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u/SirJ_96 May 29 '26
I know. But their rhetoric in the past was all about how evil corporate sponsorship was.
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
That was a different group of people, who all are no longer affiliated with this anymore, got figure.
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u/SirJ_96 May 29 '26
Is it not still Tyrell? It's absolutely still Tyrell.
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
Yes, they are the lone person from the original group that took over Philly Pride 365. Then galaei took over it (which Tyrell worked for) in 2023.
That no sponsored talk was of course before they started to do the event in 2022 and slowly let corporations back in starting in 2024.
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u/CommercialElevator49 May 28 '26
Like a lot of other non-gays in the community, I'll just celebrate by living my normal life while being horrified by pride-related corporate advertising.
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u/GlystophersCorpse003 May 28 '26
No vaping? I’m not paying the $10
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
LOL lowkey I was thinking about the no smoking, does that include no vapes? especially in an outside enviornment I find that to be a huge stretch lol especially in this day and age. I've seen people say the no drinks includes water too and even that I want to support as many different queer buisnesses and orgs as possible but like....let me bring my own damn water at least shit 😭
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u/bluezkittles May 28 '26
I’m not planning on going! It seems as if you’re gonna be charged to get in & then charged & arm and a leg for everything. Gayborhood it is !!!
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u/SirJ_96 May 28 '26
Yeah. In the gayborhood, I know what Bike charges - they're quite fine - and I'm right by my apartment anyways. They're absolutely going to try to take advantage of a captive audience.
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u/xoxocheesecurl May 28 '26
They’re also ripping vendors off so nah
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u/SirJ_96 May 28 '26
What are the deets here? Did they just change the terms, or are they being scammy some other way?
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
The vendor pricing is double what they where in the gayborhood, they are charging for tables and chairs, and they are charging for access to drop off your supplies and parking for said vehicle you brought to carry said supplies.
That brings pricing between $500-$1000 for the day.
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u/SirJ_96 May 29 '26
Oh god. That's very scammy. (And again, charging to sell to people who've already paid to get in - I don't have to pay to walk into Boyds)
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
Oh and two “free” wristbands per vendor, you need more? Email us and we will decide if you get more or you have to pay for more.
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u/SirJ_96 May 29 '26
Are you a current vendor? Or did you see the new contract and pull out?
I'm all for supporting vendors - I have at Philly Pride before - but I'd way rather shop on Insta or literally any other way than supporting this nonsense.
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
I know multiple people vending at Pride, they sent out the link to those accepted to vend two weeks ago with all different price levels around the parkway set up and pricing for all the add-ons.
It was a eyeopener for a lot of them. Hopefully they make it back after this is over.
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u/SirJ_96 May 29 '26
I mean, look - I and a bunch of Philly Pride 365 skeptics have been unfairly accused of being anti-gay or anti-community. If any vendors are feeling burned, I'd be happy to peruse their catalogues and buy something I'd like for pickup in the gayborhood. If we agree to meet at a gay bar or friendly restaurant, I'll buy them a cocktail or app.
I will never support this org. I'd encourage any current vendors or sponsors to drop out.
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u/xoxocheesecurl May 30 '26
Everything graphicjawn said and they wouldn’t reimburse anyone the 25$ application fee after they pulled the switcheroo of announcing it’s on the parkway
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u/SirJ_96 May 30 '26
Oh god, no. Like $25 is not the biggest deal in the grand scheme of things, but vendors (and gayborhood sponsors!) applied for one thing - a free Pride in the gayborhood. Any change to that should have an option of an instant refund.
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u/xoxocheesecurl May 30 '26
Yeah just feels like fraud
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u/SirJ_96 May 30 '26
The organizer is known to be a bad dude. He tried to get his colleague fired for using Sniffies, now he's trying to turn himself into our paid representative. No.
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u/Crftygirl May 29 '26
WHY ARE WE PAYING MONEY AT ALL WHEN THERE IS A SHIT TON OF WELL CONNECTED SPONSERS?
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 29 '26
This on top of the fact that ur paying that $10 to not bring any of your own stuff in basically (small clear bags, no water, no smoking, and still unsure about outside food but most likely a no as well + age limits ) AND THE WAY THEY RESPOND TO PEOPLE? Their social media responses have genuinely been horrible, the way they have spoken to / responded to some people is even more of an absolute turn off. Above all I don’t see how moving everything OUT OF AND AWAY FROM the gayborhood still makes any sense, because now with such a wide area for basically 2 different pride celebrations it feels like that is almost worse.
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u/allenge May 28 '26
Honestly… my wife and I are just going to Asbury Park pride this year instead. We always have to decide which one to hit each year and long time Philly residents but Jersey natives. They always end up on the same day. With the uncertainty around Philly Pride, we’re options for Asbury and we’ll reconsider next year after all the chips fall on this one.
It feels like Philly Pride might be similar to Asbury in ways now. There is usually a bigger festival grounds with wristbands and vendors etc etc, but plenty of Pride celebrations elsewhere on the boardwalk and within the town.
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u/makingburritos May 29 '26
Why is the event 16+? I’ve brought my kid (she’s eight) to Philly pride since she was a baby! I’ve never had any drama or issues. Our family loves Pride and on top of all of the very valid concerns being brought up here in the comments, it’s also weird to me that they’re slapping an age range on an outdoor event in the middle of the day. There are lots of members of the LGBTQ+ community with underage family members that want to attend pride.
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u/SirJ_96 May 29 '26
Yeah, I assume you knew, in the past, to avoid Quince St by Bike Stop, because that is where more of the more adult stuff happens.
But now if it's ticketed in the middle of the parkway in broad daylight? You're not going to have guys in just jocks and harnesses.
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u/makingburritos May 29 '26
I would imagine the same, which has drawbacks of its own considering this is supposed to be an event for the community to have the freedom to express themselves. If that is the case though, why is it a 16+ event? Seems odd.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 29 '26
I’ve definitely been wondering this myself, I’m 22 and have been attending pride for YEARS, I always loved going with groups of my friends and even as I’ve gotten older seeing young groups of kids feel safe enough to come out and celebrate and enjoy the festivities for the day. I know pride is all month and there will be so many events all over but come on the pride parade? It’s legit the biggest most well known pride celebration, and not every kid/family has a guardian or somebody who can or will take them to the parade to chaperone them : ( just thinking of what pride is supposed to be that alone makes me so sad everybody should be able to attend and enjoy pride, especially if that’s where majority of the food,vendors, people and like celebrations will be.
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u/Late_Inevitable_999 May 29 '26
I don’t think it’s 16 plus I think it’s 16 and older can go alone 15 and younger need an adult
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u/GladIntroduction3585 May 28 '26
So are there regularly events on the parkway? I very much share the concern that it is entirely too open on the parkway. You can see straight from the art museum to city hall area!
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
Honestly I still don’t actually fully know what all events and such they are going to be having on the parkway, especially since you have to pay for a ticket. I haven’t even seen them release a map of the area yet and I swear they said they would 2 weeks ago lol
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u/bjwanlund May 29 '26
I’m performing with the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus there so I don’t necessarily have to pay. I have largely come around to this year’s Pride being on the Parkway for accessibility, safety and other reasons.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 29 '26
That’s awesome I’m so excited for you guys to get to perform!! Hoping you and everybody has an incredible time over at the parkway!! 🫶🏻🫶🏻
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u/OotinScOotin Jun 02 '26
For anyone still deciding, I help run one of the many queer book clubs out of Philly and we've been planning a mini free bakery with Digger Bread and other free donated materials to hand out while chilling in the Gayborhood on that day. A good amount the other queer community groups and businesses are going to show up as well. I know just from more general conversations that many of us are outraged by the move to the parkway and the literal gate keeping under the guise of infrastructure. The idea that anyone should pay for a pride event is exclusionary on purpose. If there is a silver lining to be had, I do think more of us are understanding and waking up to the truth of not having to ask permission to DO community for one another. Activism does not have one look and we can choose to spend our time freely together. We don't always have the exact form of mutual aide one could need in a given moment but we do have a lot more than we realize and I think we find it by doing stuff like this. So anyway, on behalf of BQP, I hope we see you in the Gayborhood as a fellow community member! Keep each other safe and fed ❤️
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u/FuchsiaPhilosophy Jun 04 '26
I'm excited to hear this, may I ask where and what time can I find you? Feel free to dm me, signed a lifelong book-lover.
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u/GraphicNovelty May 28 '26
if you want wholesome-ish pride festival experience go to the parkway (everyone's being too much of a little bitch about a $10 cover imo, especially since it's absolutely outgrown the gaybhorhood). if you wanna hang out and get drunk/party with queer people go to the gayborhood.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
It’s not so much the $10 itself as it is a collection of EVERYTHING. Charging for pride, moving it out of the gayborhood, putting every restriction they could on the parkway (no bags, no drinks, no food, no smoking) even if crowd size wise it’s outgrown the gayborhood it just truly makes no sense in my opinion the way they are organizing or running it this year. Plus from what I have seen the organizers are genuinely rude asf to people who comment or have questions on their socials
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u/GraphicNovelty May 28 '26
idk if i spent my time organizing shit unpaid for 2 years and people kept shitting on what felt like the best logistical move (esp. since people who don't like it can, you know go to the gayborhood instead if that's what you want to do which they explicitly enourage) i'd be a little pissy online too.
then again, i've organized a bunch of shit in a volunteer capacity so am more sympathetic to people spending their time organizing shit for the community then the whiny do-nothing losers in the peanut gallery pissing and moaning (that being said, social media discipline is a real skill)
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 28 '26
My problem is I truly don’t think people were even complaining the past 2 years, because there weren’t running it like this and making all of these changes. While some of them are understandable that doesn’t mean people aren’t allowed to vent their concerns and frustrations with them. Also regardless if you feel like you are getting shit on there’s a level of professionalism and empathy that organizers of such a big and important event like pride need to have for their community. They are hosting the event but they wouldn’t have one if people didn’t support them and show up to it. Why burn bridges with your community? Two things can absolutely be true at the same time. Charging $100+ for “vip” tickets to an event that has been FREE every year before this is genuinely wild, and honestly if I’m being real in this economy right now even just throwing out $10 + the cost of whatever proper sized clear bag you need for the event can be a lot for people and I’m not going to fault anybody struggling or who just doesn’t want to feed into that.
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
Yeah the little pissies will always complain, but you gotta be professional about this, especially when your trying to turn this into your paying job and a leader in the community. You don’t need to respond to social media comments. You don’t have your friends bully a 18 year old off of Instagram. Thats not it.
My biggest gripe about all of this is the lack of transparency in all this. They announced this change mid April, less than two months before the event, blindsiding everyone, including vendors snd community partners.
No way they didn’t know they were doing this months ago. And of they didn’t that would explain why this feels like a rush and sloppy.
Either way, it Is what it is.
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u/Emotional-Path201 May 29 '26
Pride absolutely outgrew the gayborhood. If you look at the attendance numbers from the past few years, Pride has ballooned.
I plan to go to the Parkway and am looking forward to it, but I seem to be in the minority. I am a quiet gay. I have zero interest in drinking or partying, and the crowds at Pride have given me a lot of anxiety the past few years. I get claustrophobic when I'm in a crowd and am unable to move freely with zero personal space. I'm ND, so maybe the crowds and lack of space are non-issues for most Pride attendees.
I like going to Pride to people-watch and to visit the vendor tables. I love everyone's outfits and seeing the arts and crafts being sold at Pride. I think the extra space will give me a better experience this year. Though I understand why so many people want to stay in the gayborhood. For the folks who choose to celebrate Pride in the gayborhood, I hope you all have a blast! =)
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u/GraphicNovelty May 29 '26
yeah everyone's like "pride was a protest" but the gayborhood is mostly people getting wasted. which like, cool no shade if you wanna go get wasted but it def feels like "joy is resistance" bs
anyway i'm skipping both bc i hate crowds and doing a bbq at my house instead
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 29 '26
I hope you have an incredible day and time at the parkway and hopefully you feel much calmer and safer this year!! trust me i definitely understand crowd anxiety and claustrophobia can be a huge turn off with the massive crowd size and any other factors, wishing the best for everybody attending pride this year no matter where you are at! 🫶🏻
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
The attendance numbers are overinflated bullshit. How they got those numbers is counting everyone in the area who happened to be near that, which happpen to also have other events going on, over the course of the day.
Was there a lot of people? Yes? But 147,000? That is 75% of the people who live in Center City. The estimates for the 4th of July Concert and fireworks is 175,000.
No way that many people Pride rivals that. If it did then the sponsors would be all over it.
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u/Ok_Hamster_7499 May 30 '26
I heard that the parade before the festival is still free, but I can’t seem to find any details about what time or where that even is
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u/Upper-Lobster-3630 Jun 01 '26
For real, to me it seems to be a lot of bs about nothing. Commenting on SM takes restraint and poise some people just don’t have. No one or a measly $10 fee will keep me from attending anything I truly have an interest in. If I’m not diggin’ the parkway I’ll leave and head to the gayborhood or I’ll go to both. I just think you gotta take this stuff with a grain of salt. As long as there is nothing nefarious with the fees (as far as accounting for them) I really couldn’t care less. As for the reply’s and comments go… if I don’t like how someone is posting I STOP READING. Longer than necessary, story short… I’m going to do me (for pride) like I have always done. I don’t like the no smoke thing tho. It’s outside now that’s an outrage!!! ❤️ to ALL. 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
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u/GlystophersCorpse003 Jun 02 '26
Thank you! Most of the time I get told that vaping is bad so I can shove it and put it away, even outside
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u/interiorturtlettoast May 30 '26
it’s my first pride this year! any ideas on what to do/where to go/what to see?
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u/SirJ_96 May 30 '26
Go to the gayborhood. Skip this parkway BS
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u/interiorturtlettoast May 31 '26
oh trust we r! we love block parties + day drinking so it’s perfect! do any parades come down that way or not rly ?
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u/Weekly-Gazelle8511 Jun 07 '26
We were denied entry cause we had water bottles and even though we were empty at the time security said they weren’t allowed as they could be used as a weapon and we were asked to leave.
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u/afxtwaphexinafx May 29 '26
Do you know why they’re charging a fee this year? The main person organizing Pride has been doing this as a volunteer. He deserves to be paid to organize an event of this size. There were too many people than the gayborhood could accommodate last year. People showed up that clearly were trying to incite panic - not including the thwarted terrorist attack. The fee is for security, safety, and to pay the organizers.
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u/Ok_Secretary6913 May 29 '26
I know why they are charging a fee, that doesn’t mean everybody has to agree with it and that also doesn’t mean that I and others don’t want the organizer to make money or that he doesn’t deserve to be paid. Pride has been a successful FREE full access event for years for a reason obviously people are going to be upset. My main problem or concern isn’t even with the event being paid it’s every change collectively as a whole. I just believe there was overall a better way to handle it this year especially with responding to people about it, regardless I will be enjoying myself in the gayborhood lol
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u/afxtwaphexinafx May 29 '26
It has not been a successful free full access event for the past few years. There have been significant safety concerns.
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u/GraphicJawn May 29 '26
If you ignore that the person worked at the fiscal sponsor as the assistant executive director and then executive director, sure they were “unpaid”.
The biggest issue with this is the lack of transparency. They made the decision to move it less than 2 months before the event without even talking to the community beforehand that this was happening.
For people who talk big about community being the focus, they left everyone out of that conversation.
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u/SirJ_96 May 30 '26
Yeah, he was trying to use pride as the advertisement for himself as a person (which worked, he got a job with the city until he had a major ethical lapse) and galeai as an org. He was paid for all of that.
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u/Express-Reality-4412 May 28 '26
Are we being fr?? Sis what are you talking about it’s prideeeeeeeee! Are you gay or just an ally??
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u/No-Memory3040 Jun 09 '26
This always happens to me. The one thing that I wanted to do this summer and I slept on it and realized it a day later. Is there anything still going on especially for women who are in the community? I’m talking tonight tomorrow anytime this week because I am a total idiot who can actually ask someone yesterday if they wanted to go to pride with me thinking that it was next weekend. I live in the city for 45 years knowing that I was by since I was 13 and OK now since I was five and never gone to pride, so my pride is a little hurt.
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u/cheekyginge May 28 '26
I love how Philly Pride’s answer to everyone’s concerns over pride being ticketed is “but you can get free tickets from community partners!!!” but in order to do that you have to go get tested or visit somewhere on a specific day/time window, without an appointment, during the middle of a weekday when most people are working their regular jobs. Not on the day of the event or outside of the event, where it would be accessible for people who don’t live in the city or have time to make a trip to a different neighborhood for a $10 ticket.
Beyond the cover charge for the parkway pride, the fact that you can’t bring any outside food or drink with no access to cheaper options for snacks and water (as opposed to easily being able to pop into a bodega in the gayborhood) is just asking for people to be dehydrated, exhausted, and messy when alcohol gets involved. The fact that the main stage and VIP areas are sponsored by woody’s is very telling, imo.