Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade

Charlotte Pride is a nonprofit that produces a free two-day festival and parade in Uptown Charlotte, capping a week of Pride events. The 2026 festival was held August 15 and 16 around First Ward Park, with the parade on Tryon Street. The event offers ASL interpreters for performances and accessible viewing areas.

Charlotte Pride was founded in 2000 and held its first festival in 2001, carrying forward a local tradition of Pride and Pride-like events that goes back to the 1970s and early 1980s. The main event moved to Uptown Charlotte in 2011 and added a parade in 2013. Over the following decade attendance grew from about 10,000 to roughly 260,000 visitors, making it the largest LGBTQ event of its kind in the Carolinas and the city's largest annual parade.

The festival and parade have been free for 25 years. Some add-ons, such as a VIP Experience and related fundraisers, are ticketed, and there are fees for parade entries and exhibitor space. The weekend follows Charlotte Pride Week, a stretch of events hosted by local businesses and organizations around the city.

Beyond the weekend, Charlotte Pride runs or collaborates on Charlotte Latine Pride, Charlotte Trans Pride, Charlotte Women's Pride, a job fair, a scholarship and internship program, and Reel Out Charlotte, the city's annual LGBTQ film festival. Its monthly donor program supports arts programming for BIPOC, trans and queer artists, direct aid to community members in need, and local advocacy. Once run entirely by volunteers, it now has a board, volunteers and full-time staff, and it is a member of InterPride and the U.S. Association of Prides.

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.

Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade has included parade, festival, pride week, vip experience and asl interpretation.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held August 15-16, 2026. It usually falls third weekend of August.