PrideFest St. Louis

PrideFest is the annual two-day Pride festival produced by Pride St. Louis, held downtown at Soldiers Memorial. It features stages of entertainment, vendors, and the Grand Pride Parade, capping a month of educational and community events.

Organized Pride in St. Louis dates to 1979, when the group that became the St. Louis Lesbian & Gay Pride Celebration Committee formed. The first celebration came in April 1980, sponsored by the Magnolia Committee, named for the street where most of its members lived, together with a second group. After a week of activities, hundreds joined the Lesbians and Gays Walk for Charity down Lindell Boulevard in the Central West End to Washington University's quadrangle, and the two groups merged.

Around the same time, writer Jim Thomas brought local organizations together to plan an annual June celebration honoring the Stonewall Riots, with a picnic early in the week and a march at the end. The first PrideFest followed in 1981, and the event has grown in size and scope since, including a 1993 PrideFest at the World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park.

Pride St. Louis, Inc. describes itself as a community-based organization rather than a political group, working for more than 45 years to build understanding and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. It is guided by a volunteer board and holds meetings, workshops and events through the year, and the Grand Pride Parade along Market Street has been streamed live by KSDK.

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.

PrideFest St. Louis has included parade and festival.

PrideFest St. Louis was first held in 1980.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held June 27-28, 2026. It usually falls last weekend of June.