SAN DIEGO – The San Diego LGBT Pride Festival is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people to the Hillcrest area this weekend.
The festival begins Friday with a block party in Hillcrest and the annual Spirit of Stonewall Rally at Balboa Park, where the keynote speaker will be Army Secretary Eric Fanning, the first openly gay man to hold the position. The block party will run from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday. Tickets to the block party are $20 and can be purchased here.
The Spirit of Stonewall Rally will take place at Balboa Drive and 8th Drive at 6 p.m.
The 1.1-mile Pride Parade begins Saturday at 11 a.m. It will run from University Avenue and Normal Street, proceed west on University, then south on 6th Avenue and end at Laurel Street and Balboa Drive. For parking and transportation information, click here. Street closures can be found below.
Along with the parade, there will also be a Pride Music Festival running all day Saturday and Sunday in Balboa Park, headlined by Kesha and Paul Oakenfold. A weekend pass is $20. An estimated 40,000 people are expected to attend. To purchase tickets, click here.
The annual Pride 5K race will take place Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at University Avenue and Centre Street. Click here to register.
A new addition to the Pride Festival this year is the Free Rainbow Zone, which provides a range of resources to festival attendees, located just outside the Music Festival at 6th Avenue and Laurel Street. It will include some Pride Festival staples such as the Art of Pride, Lambda Archives history area, Senior Cool Zone, Youth Zone by Trevor Project, Pride Family Picnic by The Center’s Family Services, LGBT Black Coalition and South Bay Pride.
For more events, check out the Pride Festival’s Top 25 list of things to do at the festival.
On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council proclaimed July as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, a nod toward last month's mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub that killed 50 people and injured dozens more.
Nearly 50 revelers at an Orlando nightclub that caters to the area's gay and lesbian community were gunned down June 12 by a Florida man who expressed his allegiance to the Islamic State.
10News is proud to support this year’s San Diego Pride Parade and events. Our relationship with the LGBT community is important in maintaining the integrity of our commitment to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to be part of a dynamic event like San Diego Pride Parade, one of the largest events in the city.
Our participation in the Pride Parade will feature a 10News live truck and approximately 30 parade participants who will be handing out beautiful leis reminding viewers to DOWNLOAD THE 10NEWS APP.
10News believes that community outreach an important mission engaging and empowering our communities. 10News employees invest their energy and heart into supporting worthwhile causes in their own neighborhoods.
Street closure information:
The following streets will be closed starting at 6am and open by 4 pm on July 16, 2016:
Centre St (from University Ave to Park Blvd)
Lincoln Ave (from Cleveland Ave to Park Blvd)
*Normal St (from University Ave to Washington)
*Harvey Milk St (from Cleveland Ave to Centre St)
Additionally, the following streets will be closed starting at 9 am and open by 4:00 pm on July 16, 2016:
University Ave (from 6th Ave to Park Blvd)
Evans Place (from 5th Ave to 6th Ave)
6th Ave (from Upas St to University Ave)
Pennsylvania Ave (from 5th Ave to 6th Ave)
Balboa Drive in Balboa Park
Brookes Ave (from 5th Ave to 6th Ave)
Robinson Ave (from 5th Ave to 6th Ave)
Ivy Lane (from 5th Ave to 6th Ave)
