This story from March 10 has been updated with new information about the Pride Parade and music acts for the Fest.
Both the Chicago Pride Parade and Pride Fest will be back in person this June, organizers say.
The popular Pride Parade will be Sunday, June 26, beginning at noon at the corner of Montrose Avenue and Broadway in the Uptown neighborhood, and will follow its usual route and end at the corner of Diversey Parkway and Sheridan Road in Lincoln Park. It will be the city’s first since 2019.
Chicago Pride Fest, the annual street festival put on by the Northalsted Business Alliance, will be back for summer 2022 in its traditional time slot the weekend before the parade.
Pride Parade organizer Tim Frye said the parade will be a welcome relief after being canceled the past two years.
“I think it’s very necessary. I think it’s a welcome change. Basically, that’s it. I think it will be very welcoming, very happy for people.”
Frye says it will also be a way to show solidarity and resistance among the LGBTQ community following a bill the Florida Legislature passed that forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. It’s been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and has been criticized widely by the LGBTQ community and by Democrats.
“I’m kind of astonished at things like the … ‘Don’t say gay’ bill,” Frye said. “I think we’re very lucky here in Illinois that we don’t have that kind of thing happening, but you always have to keep on the alert for it.”
“I think it will be, as it has been in many years, it will be a combination of, I guess you could call it resistance yes to certain things that are happening,” Frye said. “But it’s also a time of total joy and happiness. I think the two can go hand in hand.”
According to Northalsted, Pride Fest will be June 18-19 on Halsted Street from Addison to Grace Street. Music acts and other presenters include Dyllón Burnside, Madison Rose, Mila Jam, Grag Queen and The Aces. The all-ages festival will take place, rain or shine, with a $15 suggested donation for admission.
Both events are part of wider calendar of events for Pride Month celebrating Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community.
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Pride in the Park, the annual outdoor music festival in Chicago’s Grant Park, will be June 26-26, presented by Dreambrite Presents. The full schedule and music acts are yet to be announced; according to the event website, prideparkchi.com, tickets will be on sale soon.
The parade was canceled in 2020 and 2021 to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year’s Pride Fest was delayed until early October.
As reported in GoPride, this year’s parade will be the first solely organized by Tim Frye of PRIDEChicago, after his husband, Richard Pfeiffer, died of cancer in October 2019 at age 70. Pfeiffer had coordinated the event since 1974. The 2022 parade will be dedicated in his honor.
Organizers say the events are dependent on COVID-19 conditions in Illinois, as well as state and local protocols.
Chicago Pride Fest is presented by the Northalsted Business Alliance: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. June 18-19; more information at northalsted.com/pridefest
Chicago Pride Parade begins noon June 26 at the corner of Montrose Avenue and Broadway, heads south to Halsted Street and concludes near the intersection of Diversey Parkway and Sheridan Road in Lincoln Park; more information at chicagopride.gopride.com
