CHARLOTTE, N.C. (News Release) — Charlotte Pride, the leader in LGBTQ visibility in Charlotte and the Carolinas, announced on May 18 it will return to in-person events and programs in a four-month-long Charlotte Pride Season running from August through November 2021.
Charlotte Pride Season event plans are flexible and elastic, and they can be scaled up or scaled back depending on health and safety benchmarks. Organizers have taken the pieces of a “normal” festival, parade, and Pride Week, and expanded them into a series of unique events and activities that balance a collective desire to “return to normal” with a clear need and responsibility to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of the entire community.
Charlotte Pride Season 2021 features events that are familiar and new, including:
- Charlotte Pride Weekend of Service, Aug. 21-22 — Kicking off Charlotte Pride Season with a community-wide opportunity to give back, with volunteer and service opportunities throughout Charlotte, on what would have been the 2021 festival and parade dates.
- Charlotte Pride Interfaith Service, Sept. 12 — Charlotte Pride’s traditional Interfaith Service, this year hosted in a new location with expanded opportunities for fellowship.
- Pride Night! A Charlotte Pride Concert Event, Sept. 17 — A day-long concert event featuring local, regional, and national LGBTQ artists and entertainers.
- Charlotte Pride’s Pop-Up Pride Festival, Sept. 18 — A truly unique, truly local celebration of Pride in the Queen City, the Pop-Up Pride Festival will feature special zones and activations throughout Uptown, providing a familiar festival feel while avoiding the full crowds that normally attend the festival.
- Charlotte Pride Parade, October — Charlotte Pride plans to host a normal, in-person parade in October. A final date will be announced soon.
- Reel Out Charlotte, Nov. 5-7 — The Queen City’s Annual LGBTQ Film Festival returns to Camp North End for a weekend of LGBTQ short and feature films.
- Charlotte Pride Community Empowerment Conference & Job Fair, Nov. 13 — An expansion of the 2019 Charlotte Trans Pride Job Fair, this one-day event will bring together educational and community-building workings with a job fair expo for all those seeking new work and those looking to learn more about our community.
More details on these events and other activities will be released over the next few weeks and months. Several involvement opportunities are already available, including vendor and parade applications, Champions of Pride Award nominations, and more. You can learn more about these and other opportunities at https://charlottepride.org/pride2021/.
Charlotte Pride also released a letter to the community explaining the new Charlotte Pride Season and providing an overview of organizers’ various thoughts and concerns as they considered event planning this year. The letter, also available in Spanish, can be read online at https://charlottepride.org/14229/.
