Ashtabula Pride Festival

The Ashtabula Pride Festival is run by Ashtabula Pride Inc., a volunteer-led nonprofit in Northeast Ohio. The 2025 festival had more than 110 vendors, stage entertainment and a family zone. Organizers cancelled the large festival for 2026, citing a lack of volunteer and financial support, and planned smaller pop-up events instead.

Ashtabula Pride Inc. describes itself as a safe space for LGBTQ+ people across the area, and its leadership has been open about how much work the festival requires. In announcing the 2026 pause, the organizer explained that the event had grown too large for a handful of dedicated people to carry without more hands and more funding, and framed the year as a chance to rebuild the group's foundation and bring in new people.

Several programs carry on in the meantime. The Syinjin Memorial Art Show continues as a showcase for local talent in a range of forms, and the group planned a pair of queer cabaret nights at theaters in the area. It also continues the Bill DayWalt Memorial Scholarship, named for a close friend of the organizer.

The group has said the full festival will return in 2027. Its site also mentions a move to a new location with better parking and walking access, along with new entertainment plans. Volunteers sign up through an online form and are matched to roles across the festival day, with time left to enjoy the event themselves.

Pride events celebrate LGBTQ+ people and mark the Stonewall uprising of June 1969. Most combine a parade or march with a festival of performers, community groups, vendors and food.

Ashtabula Pride Festival has included festival, vendors, stage entertainment and family zone.

Ashtabula Pride Festival was first held in 2021. Organizers reported more than 4,000 people in 2025.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. The 2026 edition was cancelled. It usually falls june.