Denver PrideFest: who’s performing, street closures and what else you can expect

The two-day festival, headlined by Big Freedia, will run June 24-25. Street closures begin Friday, June 23.
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Amber Dee lives it up in the Absolut Dance World during Denver PrideFest. June 24, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

This weekend, Civic Center Park will host the 48th Annual Denver PrideFest produced by The Center on Colfax featuring performances and live entertainment, interactive art installations, a 5K race, a parade and even an 18+ sober area serving non-alcoholic beverages.

The two-day festival will begin Saturday, June 24 at 11 a.m. and end Sunday, June 25.

Attendees can peruse through over 250 exhibitors, 30 food and beverage vendors and live performances across three stages from headliners Big Freedia, Broadway and RuPaul's Drag Race performer Marcia Marcia Marcia and Los Angeles drag entertainer Salina EsTitties.

"Love is Love," artist Lonnie Hanzon's annual installation for Denver PrideFest. June 24, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

On Sunday, the 2023 Coors Light Denver Pride Parade will also feature contingents from all of Denver's major pro sports teams: Denver Nuggets SuperMascot Rocky, dancers and the Skyline Drum Squad, Miles the Mascot and Denver Broncos Cheerleaders, Colorado Rockies mascot Dinger, Colorado Avalanche Bernie the Mascot and The Celly Squad, Colorado Mammoth Wooly the Mascot and Colorado Rapids RapidMan the Mascot.

This will be the first time that all of Denver's major pro sports teams participate in the Pride parade.

"We are excited to have the support of so many of our pro sports teams at this year's Pride Parade," said Rex Fuller, CEO of The Center on Colfax. "Now more than ever, that show of solidarity is a very meaningful statement."

The parade will begin Sunday, June 25 at 9:30 a.m. and will span 14 blocks of Colfax Avenue starting from Cheesman Park and ending at Denver's Civic Center.

Colfax Avenue from Franklin Street to Lincoln Street will be closed starting at 9 a.m. on Sunday for the Denver PrideFest parade and will reopen once the parade is complete.

The following streets will be closed, beginning Friday, June 23 to midnight Sunday, June 25:

Bannock Street from Colfax to 13th Avenue, beginning at 7 a.m.

14th Avenue from Cherokee St. to Broadway, beginning at 7 a.m.

Broadway from 16th Street Mall to 13th Avenue, beginning at 7 p.m.

Colfax Avenue (Westbound) from Lincoln St. to Cherokee St. beginning at 6 p.m.

Colfax Avenue (Eastbound) from Cherokee to Lincoln Streets beginning at 6 p.m.

An interactive art installation by Colorado artist, Lonnie Hanzon, will incorporate this year's theme, "Be Proud Out Loud," as a 28-foot-tall sculpture titled, "Love is Love."

For more information on all the festival's events, click here.

Wyatt "Potted Plant" Kent, a survivor of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, speaks on Denver PrideFest's main stage after arriving with a group protesting the event and its organizers. June 24, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite

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