Waltham Pride Festival

Waltham Pride holds an annual festival on the Waltham Common with musical acts, drag performances, speeches, and food. The group works to make Waltham more welcoming for LGBTQIA+ residents.

Waltham has been an important place for LGBTQ+ people in New England since at least the early 1980s. It is home to Trans Community of New England, founded in 1978 as the Tiffany Club and one of the oldest trans rights organizations in the country. In the 1980s and 1990s the group Way Out Waltham organized local gatherings, and in 2019 the City Council passed its first resolution recognizing Pride Month, introduced by Councilor Kristine Mackin, the city's first openly bisexual elected official.

Waltham Pride grew out of online groups for local LGBTQ+ residents that formed in 2020 and 2021. With Boston Pride planned as an online-only event that year, members decided to meet in person, and the first Waltham Pride took place in June 2021 at a private home in the Highlands neighborhood. After residents came together in 2022 to defeat an attempt to ban two books from the high school library, Pride moved to Waltham Common, where hundreds gathered for music, speeches and tables.

The festival now includes a children's rainbow story time led by Waltham Public Library staff, speakers from local and national advocacy groups and the presentation of Creative Spark Scholarships. Street parking and public lots are free on Sundays, and the Common sits next to the Waltham stop on the Fitchburg commuter rail line. The festival receives support from the Waltham Cultural Council.

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.

Waltham Pride Festival has included festival, live music, drag performances and speakers.

Waltham Pride Festival was first held in 2022.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held June 14, 2026. It usually falls a Sunday in mid-June.