En Vogue, Deborah Cox to Headline Festival

We are very pleased to announce that En Vogue, Deborah Cox, DJ Red Richard and more will appear as part of thie year's Festival Headline Show on the evening of Saturday, June 28 in Loring Park. For details of this year's show, check out the Festival Headline Show page. Headline Show tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the gate. The Festival remains free to attend.

Festival Attractions & Features

The Pride Fesival features multiple entertainment stages, hundreds of exhibitors & vendors, several food courts, fireworks and much, much more.  For the details of this year's features & amenities, check out the Festival Attractions page.

Five Stages of Entertainment

For complete schedules of all the acts appearing on the Festival's stages, please check out the Festival Entertainment Schedules.

In recent years, we introduced our fourth musical venue, the Classical Stage, with a limited schedule. This year we hope to expand its schedule.  If you or your group are interested in performing, please let us know.

New in 2008 will be the Power to the People Stage, located just north of the Loring Beer Garden. Entertainment on this stage will include various speakers, DJs and live performances with a focus on diverse segments of the community.

The centrally-located Loring Stage presented by Best Buy, will get you movin' and groovin' with our Saturday Night Headline Show featuring En Vogue, Deborah Cox, Sunshine Behavior, Sick of Sarah and DJ Red Richard! Tickets for the show are $8 in avance and $10 at the gate. Hosting our national entertainers and your favorite local acts, the Loring Stage is at the heart of the Pride Festival, near the center of the park.  The Loring Stage is also the host of the Opening Ceremony and the Mass Commitment Ceremony.

The Rainbow Stage will be moving to the southeast corner of the park. Captivating lyrics, smooth voices, intimate atmosphere... the Rainbow Stage, is the place to sit back, relax and enjoy performances by national artists and your favorite local artists. Folk, R&B, jazz and rock are just a few of the genres  to which you can anticipate spending a war summer's day groovin'.

Beautiful Women - Handsome Men performing to great music... this can only be one place - the Stonewall Stage presented by Esurance! Returning to its location on the southwest side of the park, Get your dollar bills ready because this stage showcases the best female and male impersonators in the upper Midwest. Continuing her reign as the Stonewall Stage Diva Extraordinar, Agusta Wind will be MC’ing all weekend long.

Children's & Family Area presented by Target

The Children's & Family Area has been moved to a new, larger location. It will be located adjacent to the History Pavilion near the playground equipment on the east side of the lake. 

History Pavilion presented by Macy's

Enjoy an afternoon of sauntering through the History Pavilion while being serenaded by the classical music performed by local musicians at the Classical Stage. This History Pavilion and the Classical Stage are located in the large, newly-remodeled park building on the east end of the lake in Loring Park. This is a great opportunity to learn abou the history of the GLBT community and movement. Only by learning the lessons of the past will we be able to meet the challenges of the future!

Food and Drink

Three food courts, each located near a stage, will offer hundreds of choices for hungry guests. Whether you are in the mood indulge in a corn dog or want something more health-concious, there's surly to be something for everyone.

Coca-cola products are seved in each of the three food courts, in addition to bottled water.  For those in the mood for an adult beverage, we are pleased to offer two beer gardens serving Budweiser products, one by the Loring Stage and another by the Stonewall Stage.    You must be 21 or over to enter the beer gardens.  Admission for the beer gardens is $5 per day and allow for unlimited in/out privileges.

All food and beverage sales are done using tickets. Food & Beverage tickets may be purchased at any of a variety of ticket booths in each of the food courts and beer gradens.  No food or beverage items may be sold for cash.

University Row

A visit to University Row, located near the center of the park, is the place to go for information about many higher-education schools reaching out to the GLBT Community.

Quorum Village

Quorum is the Twin Cities GLBT Chamber of Commerce.  Vendors/exhibitors which are members of Qorum will have their booths in the new Quorum Village, located in the south-east corner of the park, near the intersection of Willow and West 15th Street.

Questions?  More Information...

If you have any questions or concerns, pleasee contact our Festival Director via email  or telephone at 612-305-6907.