Trans Joy Fest

Trans Joy Fest is a transgender Pride festival hosted by Trans Northland at the Park Point Recreation Area in Duluth. The event celebrates the transgender, Two Spirit and gender expansive community with vendors, performers, youth and family activities and food trucks. It began in 2022 and marked its fifth year in 2026.

Trans Northland, the host of Trans Joy Fest, traces its roots to the Lake Superior Transgender Group, started by Nathalie Crowley, Shelby-Lyn James and other community members. That group began a regular monthly support group and helped launch a Friends, Family and Allies group.

In spring 2015 the work continued as Trans Plus, which met twice a month in the basement of the Building for Women in downtown Duluth. After community feedback at the end of 2021, the group took the name Trans Northland in June 2022, and it received 501(c)(3) status in 2023. It works with people who are transgender, nonbinary, intersex, gender nonconforming, Two Spirit, genderqueer, gender expansive or questioning, along with LGBQ+ community members and allies.

Its work centers on three services: support, advocacy and connection, including peer support groups and mutual aid. In 2025 a Duluth chapter of Transforming Families Minnesota, a peer-led nonprofit for trans youth and their families, arrived in the area, and in 2026 the Friends, Family and Allies group became part of that chapter.

A Trans Pride centers transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse people, often with a march or rally alongside community resources and performances.

Trans Joy Fest has included festival, vendors, performances, youth and family activities and food trucks.

Trans Joy Fest was first held in 2022. Organizers reported about 300 (inaugural event) people in 2022.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held June 7, 2026. It usually falls early June Sunday.