PHOENIX — This weekend’s 45th Phoenix Pride Festival will look very different. It is moving from Steele Indian School Park, its home since 2003, to the Arizona Center downtown, and general admission is free.
The festival is now one day, on Sunday, after a Saturday night concert featuring Madison Rose. The Sunday morning parade will start at Third and Portland streets and end at Third and Taylor streets, near the Arizona Center. Tickets are still required for the concert, a premium entertainment area and a VIP experience.
Phoenix Pride filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. It cited rising costs, economic uncertainty and a drop in sponsorships that it partly blamed on the political climate. Spokesperson Jeremy Helfgot told Axios the group is still committed to putting on the event. Pride groups around the country are dealing with the same loss of corporate support, and Tucson Pride dissolved in January after almost 50 years.
Phoenix holds its Pride festival in October instead of June because of the summer heat.
Sources: Axios Phoenix. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Kiteinthewind / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
