Charlotte Pride

Charlotte Pride is a nonprofit organization that believes in helping the LGBTQ community in North and South Carolina. Established in 2001, it is the organization responsible for the major festival and parade that usually takes place around the second week in August. The fun culminates in a festival on Saturday and Sunday, and a parade on late Sunday afternoon. This parade takes place in Uptown and works its way around the neighborhood. The organization estimated that around 165,000 people participated in the 2018 festival, which is more than 15,000 more than the number who came out the previous year.

Pride or Pride-like festivities had been held in Charlotte since the 1970s, with events like carnivals and picnics held at a variety of locations, including UNC-Charlotte, Bryant Park and Marshall Park, the parking lot at Scorpio and The VanLandingham Estate but the very first Charlotte Pride made its debut in 2001, hosting its first events in Marshall Park. 

In 2011, the event made a historic move to Uptown, holding its one-day festival on S. Tryon St., between 3rd St. and the Levine Avenue of the Arts. In 2012, the festival made yet another historic decision, expanding to two days.

Charlotte Pride is the largest LGBT event in North Carolina and now one of the largest LGBTQ Pride organizations in the American Southeast.

For full details on Charlotte Pride 2024, be sure to check out the official event program. Happy Pride!