SAN DIEGO (KGTV)– One of San Diego’s largest civic events, San Diego Pride, will look a little different this year. Organizers said the festival and parade will be celebrated in a hybrid fashion.
“We are still not able to have our large traditional festival or our parade. But Pride is not canceled,” San Diego Pride Programs Manager Bob Leyh said.
Like 2020, the parade portion of Pride this year will be virtual on the morning of July 17, 2021.
Instead of one large party over one weekend, smaller subgroups of the LGBT community, like the Black Coalition, Latinx, and Pride Military, will have their own parties throughout the month.
The weekend prior, on July 11, 2021, there will be a “Resilient Community March,” a gathering that starts at Balboa Park and ends in Hillcrest.
“March with us into Hillcrest to support the Hillcrest restaurants that have been struggling this past year,” Leyh said.
The Hillcrest pride flag pole will remain the center of the activities.vFor the first time, Normal Street between University and Harvey Milk Streets will be closed to car traffic to host the Pride Block Party, not just for one, but two days.
“Knowing that there wasn’t going to be a parade, what we did was, I said, ‘Why don’t we apply for a two-day permit?'” Executive Director of the Hillcrest Business Association, Benjamin Nicholls, said.
From 2 pm to 11 pm on July 16th and 17th, the Block Party will host rallies, shows, and dance parties.
“This is the strongest ticket sales I’ve seen for an event in Hillcrest,” Nicholls said.
Nicholls anticipates at least 100,000 people will contribute to the local economy during the Block Party alone. He said it is something they have been desperately needing after last year’s lull.
“Hillcrest is really going to jump back into being the lively and exciting and colorful neighborhood that everybody knows it to be,” Nicholls said.