Pocket guide to Seattle's big Pride weekend
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Welcome to Seattle. Photo: Genna Martin/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Seattle's big Pride weekend is here, with free festivals, a blockbuster parade and plenty of ways to celebrate across the city.
Why it matters: Seattle is marking more than 50 years of Pride with one of the country's longest-running celebrations — and a weekend expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people.
Here's our pocket guide to some can't-miss events of the weekend.
🏳️⚧️ Best kickoff: Trans Pride Seattle returns to Volunteer Park with live music, speakers and community programming. The free event has grown into one of the nation's largest Trans Pride celebrations. Free. Masks expected.
👩🏾🎤 Best splurge: The three-day ticketed Queer Pride Festival begins Friday, bringing Keke Palmer, JT, Honey Dijon, Bianca Del Rio and Junglepussy to Capitol Hill, along with dozens of drag performers, DJs and late-night parties. Starting at $70 for a day pass.
🧘 Best stretch: If you've ever wanted to try naked yoga, Saturday is your chance. This Vinyasa class at Inner Alchemy in West Seattle combines movement, meditation and body positivity in what's billed as an act of self-care and acceptance for people who identify as queer. $34.
🌈 Best free festival: PrideFest Capitol Hill transforms Broadway and Cal Anderson Park into one giant block party on Saturday, with live music, food vendors, beer gardens and hundreds of LGBTQ+ artists. It starts at noon. Free.
🍳 Best drag brunches: Pride weekend and drag brunches — which are year-round events here in the Emerald City — go hand in hand.
- Pride's official Drag Brunch fundraiser is pricey —$375 a pop — but there are many others to choose from, including Julia's on Broadway ($90 for a two-top table), Werk the W's Sunday brunch (featuring Anita Spritzer, Amora Namor and Nicole Onoscopi) just steps from the parade route ($45) and Dreamland in Fremont hosts several shows most days.
💃🏽 Best ballroom experience: Strike a Pose! FIFA World Cup Pride Ball brings Seattle's ballroom scene to the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute on Saturday night, where competitors dressed in World Cup-inspired looks battle in categories like runway, face and performance for cash prizes. Advanced tickets required.
🏳️🌈 Best of the best: The Seattle Pride Parade steps off at 11am Sunday, with colorful floats, marching bands and hundreds of community groups making their way down Fourth Avenue before crowds head to Seattle Center where the celebration continues.
Pro tip: Keep on doing what you've been doing during the World Cup action: using transit and rideshare bikes and scooters this weekend, especially on Sunday, when there will be street closures downtown.
