Palm Springs Pride Returns to In-Person Event

Palm Springs Pride to be Community Coming Out Celebration Under the Theme – You Are Included

PALM SPRINGS — Palm Springs Pride Week organizers have set the stage for a traditional slate of in-person Pride events for the 35th annual LGBTQ celebration scheduled for Nov. 1 – 7, 2021. The Pride parade and festival featuring multiple stages of live entertainment and a vendor marketplace will return to downtown Palm Springs.

The announcement, coming as the COVID-19 crisis subsides, sets the stage for California’s only large-scale, in-person Pride event to move forward in 2021. Providing a space for the community to gather after the stress, uncertainty, and isolation of the pandemic is expected to attract record attendance to Palm Springs. In 2019, Pride Week attracted an estimated 140,000 attendees and generated a significant economic impact for area hotels, shops, restaurants, and other local businesses.

Enjoy Pride in Palm Springs as you Sip, Sashay, Celebrate and Honor those who have courageously fought for equality and are no longer with us. Live your truth and no one else’s. Gather your friends, and together let’s celebrate our fearlessly authentic lives. Embrace diversity and advance the cause of individual freedom for all.

“You Are Included” is more than a theme for Pride 2021; it proclaims all are seen and loved. Our gender identity, race, religion, nationality, health status, and appearance are embraced, celebrated, and welcome at Palm Springs Pride.

When discussing what live events will look like in a post-COVID-19 world, Palm Springs Pride president and CEO Ron deHarte said, “Plans call for traditional Pride Week programming, and we look forward to a celebration of equality and diversity that will be remembered for years to come. Of primary importance is hosting a safe event. If health guidelines are issued for large in-person events occurring in November, we are prepared to follow state, county, and city live event protocols.”

Festival highlights include a Youth Zone, Children’s Garden, LGBTQ artists, 200 back-to-back exhibitors, food and beverage stations, health resources, and HIV testing sites. Take your photo with Arty, the 20′ tall leather bear, and enjoy yourself in the Arenas Rd gayborhood, our pedestrian-only social center of LGBTQ-friendly bars, restaurants, and shopping. There’s something for everyone. Favorite bars and local businesses will be packed and spilling out onto the streets for the biggest LGBTQ street party in Palm Springs.

Details for Pride Week activities can be found online at palmspringspride.gay.

This year’s Palm Springs Pride Poster and T-Shirt artwork were created by artist Shag (aka Josh Agle) and celebrate this year’s theme of “You are Included.” Shag has his retail store and gallery in Palm Springs aptly called “The Shag store” located on North Palm Canyon Drive. Shag has had solo exhibitions worldwide, been on numerous magazines and album covers, and hired by too many corporate companies to list for his artworks, including Disney and Coca-Cola.

“Capturing the spirit of love, gratefulness, survival, health, and a profound sense of community that the 2021 Pride celebration represents is a big ask for an artist. If anyone can capture the feeling of what this year’s celebration represents in an iconic print, it’s Shag,” said Ron deHarte, president of Palm Springs Pride. “His strong images, mid-mod lifestyle, ability to create the scene everyone wants to be in is exactly what our community needs this year.”

Shag also works closely with the Coachella Valley Board of Marketing (the CVB), The Palm Springs Animal Shelter, Pride, Modernism Week, and many other exciting and socially responsible organizations. We welcome everyone to visit and enjoy our Shag store in Palm Springs.

ABOUT GREATER PALM SPRINGS PRIDE

Greater Palm Springs Pride is a nonprofit community enhancement organization founded to promote public education and awareness of individual rights and civil liberties of the LGBTQ community. And to promote this communities’ history, diversity, and future prosperity.  Palm Springs Pride has been a tireless advocate for equality and diversity since the first Coachella Valley Pride event was held in 1986.

The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization brings together the skills, talents, and vision of our diverse community through its programs, including the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast, Pride Honors Awards, the Cesar Chavez Breakfast, and the Pride Parade, Pride Festival, and the downtown Arenas Road Block Party.