The long-awaited rainbow crosswalks coming to the Gayborhood will be installed the last week in June.
Philly Pride Presents executive director Franny Price told PGN installation will begin at the end of the month and wrap up in time for an unveiling and press conference July 4.
“We just confirmed the color choices and they are going to do a color test soon just to make sure,” Price said. “We’ve been told it will take a couple days to install, as it is difficult to remove the old asphalt.”
The crosswalks, eight in total, will be painted at the intersections of 12th and Locust and 13th and Locust streets.
Price said the ceremony will likely take place at 11 a.m. and feature several honored guests, including rainbow-flag creator Gilber Baker and John James — a participant in the Annual Reminder Day protests, one of the nation’s earliest LGBT-rights demonstrations — who will be the first people to walk across the crosswalks.
John Herzins, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Property, and other city officials are expected to attend.
“This is going to be so special to have these historic figures from LGBT history present, and on Barbara Gittings Way of all places,” Price said about the section of the street renamed after the late LGBT pioneer.
There will also be a dedication of the crosswalks during the July 5 Annual Reminders Block Party, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the demonstrations.
The project — a collaborative effort between Philly Pride Presents and the city’s Streets and Public Property departments — has been two years in the making.
Several other major cities currently have rainbow crosswalks. Philly’s new crosswalks will most resemble Toronto’s, with six colors spanning the street horizontally from sidewalk to sidewalk.