The 28th-annual Philadelphia Pride will have its largest parade yet.
There will be 75 groups marching, up from 61 last year. Up to 5,000 people will march in the parade that starts in the Gayborhood and makes its way over Seventh, down Market and over Front streets before ending at Penn’s Landing.
The parade starts at 11:30 a.m. June 12 and reaches the festival grounds around 1:30 p.m., where 165 tables will be set up to help people link with programs and services. The theme for this year’s Pride is “Are You Connected?”
“It’s supposed to be a loaded question,” said Franny Price, executive director of Philly Pride Presents. “Our Pride event is a networking day.”
LGBT city employees will serve as grand marshals of the parade. After a petition last month, the Greater Philadelphia Gay Officer Action League for LGBT law-enforcement officials and emergency responders withdrew as co-grand marshals. Pride programs will still list both as marshals because it would’ve cost $7,000 to reprint them, Price said.
Deborah Cox, known for her R&B hit “Nobody’s Supposed to be Here,” will headline Pride.
It costs $15 to attend, or $10 for anyone who gets a wristband at the Pride Kickoff Block Party in the Gayborhood from 6-11 p.m. June 10. The party includes a mechanical shark and a rock wall, in addition to dance parties at Woody’s, Tabu and ICandy.
Chuck Volz, senior advisor to Philly Pride Presents, described the day as a “whirlwind of action.”
He gets up at 5 a.m. to put up signs, then hops in a golf cart to start selling wristbands to people along Second and Market streets.
“It’s like hosting a wedding,” Volz said. “You plan and plan and the day of the event, it’s over before you know it. It’s really fun.”
For more information, visit www.phillygaypride.org.