UP Pride Fest

UP Pride Fest is held at Mattson Lower Harbor Park in downtown Marquette by Upper Peninsula Rainbow Pride, a volunteer-run nonprofit established in 2013. The festival includes food vendors, merchandise, nonprofit resources, games, art activities, and drag shows.

Upper Peninsula Rainbow Pride works to make the UP a safer, more supportive place for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and it says the particular challenges of rural life there drive its work. Its activities include distributing local resources, connecting Pride groups across the region, hosting LGBTQ+ events and running Mobile Pride Center Days in towns around the UP, such as Menominee.

The group's longer-term goals include opening a physical LGBTQ+ center for the UP and creating shared channels where organizations, individuals and allies can coordinate and share resources. Regular programs have included Anything But Cis, an intergenerational peer support group for trans people at the Peter White Public Library, and events with Equality Michigan's Rainbow Roadshow, such as an allyship workshop for parents and a teen tie-dye gathering. Board meetings are open to community members.

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.

UP Pride Fest has included festival, drag shows, vendors and resources.

The next edition is June 12, 2027. It usually falls second Saturday of June.