Cumberland Pride Festival

Cumberland Pride holds a family-friendly festival promoting diversity in Western Maryland at Canal Place in downtown Cumberland. The 2026 event is on Sunday, October 25, starting with a march from City Hall at 11 a.m. and a festival from noon to 4 p.m. with music, drag performances and a limited number of vendor booths.

Cumberland Pride was started to promote acceptance and diversity in Allegany County, Maryland, and it supports the LGBTQIA+ community through events and education. Its main goal is to offer a safe place for people seeking acceptance, and organizers describe the annual festival as the grassroots starting point that has led to wider outreach and advocacy in the county. The festival marked its ninth year in 2025.

Vendor space is limited, and LGBTQ+ members get priority for booths and tables. Much of the festival is paid for by sponsors. The 2026 lineup included a queer singer-songwriter with Appalachian roots whose music draws on the folk and old-time traditions and on a family history of union organizing, as well as Cash, a singer from Western Maryland now based in Nashville who blends country, R&B, pop and gospel and acted for three seasons on the ABC series Nashville.

Parking is free in several downtown spots on weekends. Canal Place has a free lot off Howard Street under I-68 with more than 70 spaces and no time limit, and there is free weekend parking at the train station. The Center City garage on South George Street is a few blocks from Canal Place, and municipal parking off Frederick Street sits next to City Hall, where the march gathers.

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.

Cumberland Pride Festival has included march, festival, live music, drag performances and vendors.

The next edition is October 25, 2026. It usually falls late October.