San Diego Set to Kick off Pride Week – NBC 7 San Diego

Forget about the scaled-down version of San Diego Pride we were expecting this summer. Organizers expect the celebration to be back on a much grander scale for 2021 than was first thought.

It all starts on Friday, when there will be a “Pride — Together Again” art exhibit and, on Sunday a community march. The following, Hillcrest will be taken over for a big two-day block party.

San Diego’s world-famous pride celebration is going to look a lot like the Prides of old. NBC 7’s Dave Summers explains.

Organizers announced last month that the traditional Pride Parade had been scrapped in favor of a march from Balboa Park to Hillcrest.

Several in-person events are part of the updated plan:

• The Resilient Community March: Takes the place of the normal parade, and will be a march from Balboa Park to Hillcrest
• The Pride Block Party: A two-evening event with live music and other activities. Organizers expect this event to draw over 100,000 people between the two days
• The Spirit of Stonewall Rally: Takes place during the July 16 festivities during the block party
• Click here for more event info

In celebration of Pride Month, a Pride flag was displayed over San Diego City Hall for the first time.

The plan was music to the ears of Gossip Grill general manager Darcy Carson. The bar restaurant is just a short walk from Hillcrest’s Pride Flag at University Avenue and Normal Street, the epicenter of the two-day block party event. 

For Carson, “Going back to normal, getting to see people, getting to hug people, getting to see someone’s face actually,” are what have her most excited, she said.

Pride weekend has brought up to a quarter-million people to the world-famous neighborhood in the past. Some organizers think this year’s event could attract close to half of that.

The block party will be reminiscent of others — pre-pandemic that is. Normal Street will be closed at Harvey Milk Street. On one side will be a VIP section with eateries and a bar, and there will be a stage underneath the Pride flag.

“Now that Pride is on, we have more indoor capacity going on,” Carson said. “All we’re doing is trying to hire more staff and get more bodies in here.”

Additional events are as listed:

Pride: Together Again – Art Exhibition