Essex Pride Festival

The Essex Pride Festival is the center of Essex Pride Weekend at Maple Street Park. It features more than 20 performances, over 90 artists, local organizations, food trucks, and activities for all ages, plus a quiet indoor space with Vermont Queer Archives displays.

Essex Pride began in June 2022 with about a dozen people gathering in the pouring rain at Five Corners, after a local resident asked friends on Facebook whether they wanted to celebrate together. It is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit incorporated in Vermont, run by a small executive board and board of directors, and it puts profits and donations from its events back into Vermont organizations that support LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized people.

The festival goes on rain or shine, moving activities under the pavilions at Maple Street Park if needed. It is an all-ages event that has included a drag queen reading a fairy tale. Picnic tables and benches are set up around the grounds, and people watching performances are encouraged to bring blankets or chairs to the soccer field.

Overflow parking is available across Maple Street at Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School and the United Methodist Church, with volunteers helping people cross, and there is also parking at the First Congregational Church and in free lots around Five Corners. Essex Pride does not partner with local police and instead hires licensed, trained security.

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.

Essex Pride Festival has included festival and performances.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held May 30, 2026. It usually falls last weekend of May.