Pride on the Riverfront

Pride on the Riverfront is Burlington's fall Pride celebration, organized by the nonprofit BTown Pride. It includes a parade down Jefferson Street, a riverfront festival with vendors, food, and entertainment, and the Pride After Dark drag show.

BTown Pride is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works year-round on behalf of 2SLGBTQIA+ people and other minority communities in Burlington and Southeast Iowa. Its logo draws on Burlington's Great River Bridge, a nod to the group's focus on building bridges, and its guiding values are respect, education, liberty and advocacy.

Organizers fill the Pride program with educational content and resources and describe it as a non-judgmental place to ask respectful questions, whatever a visitor's level of knowledge. Performers and participants apply to take part, and the group aims for a lineup that reflects many different kinds of people. The 2026 celebration was set for October 3.

Outside of Pride, the group lists advocacy events on its website and social media, including regional gatherings such as the One Iowa Health and Wellness Conference in Des Moines, which focuses on care and barriers for LGBTQ+ patients in the Midwest.

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.

Pride on the Riverfront has included parade, festival and drag show.

The next edition is October 3, 2026. It usually falls first Saturday of October.