Overview
- The volunteer-led Boston Pride For The People parade is set to step off at 11 a.m. on Saturday from Copley Square and proceed roughly two miles through the South End and Back Bay to Boston Common.
- Organizers expect about 12,000 participants and roughly 300 organizations to take part in the march and check-in activities.
- An all-ages festival on Boston Common will run from noon to 6 p.m. and a 21-plus block party in Copley Square will begin at 2 p.m., with headliner Flyana Boss and about 250 vendors offering food, goods and health screenings.
- Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu are expected to march, and organizers say the event is meant as both celebration and protest in response to recent legislative and federal actions affecting LGBTQ people.
- City road closures go into effect early Saturday morning, the event was moved up a week to avoid World Cup programming, and the parade builds on Boston’s long LGBTQ political history including the legacy of Rita Hester and the state’s early marriage-rights wins.