River City Pride

River City Pride is Jacksonville's annual Pride parade and festival, organized by an all-volunteer nonprofit. The 1.5-mile parade runs from Willowbranch Park through the Avondale, Riverside and Five Points neighborhoods to Riverside Park. A festival in Riverside Park accompanies the parade.

Jacksonville's Pride history reaches back to 1978, when the city held its first Gay Pride Festival as a picnic at Willowbranch Park. The Lesbian and Gay Community Center of Jacksonville formed soon after and became an umbrella for projects such as the Out and About newspaper, a safe schools coalition, a breast cancer outreach project and the First Coast Chorus. Attorney Kim Blankenship revived the group in 1999 as Community Rainbows, Inc., after many board members had left or been lost to AIDS.

The Pride committee became First Coast Pride, Inc. at the end of 2001, and the festival moved from the fairgrounds to the Sea Walk Pavilion in Jacksonville Beach in 2002. In 2008 the group was renamed Merge, Inc., and the festival moved to Riverside Park. Today Jax River City Pride, Inc. is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) led by an elected slate of officers and a board, and it is already planning for the 50th anniversary in 2028.

The October parade is lined with floats and vehicles and passes through the city's historic LGBTQIA+ neighborhoods, finishing in the Five Points business district, a popular viewing spot. The festival includes live entertainment, a family fun zone, local artists, businesses, nonprofits and food vendors.

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.

River City Pride has included parade and festival.

River City Pride was first held in 1978. Reported attendance: about 15,000 (2014).

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held October 3-4, 2026. It is usually held on the first weekend of October.