See Moments From Denver’s Annual Pride Parade
Proud: A marcher waves their hands and smiles at crowds of people during Denver’s annual pride parade. Held during late June to wrap up Pride Month, the parade provides an opportunity for people to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community by marching, building floats, performing, and more. The parade marked the return of the celebration, as for two year, it had been cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19 and isolation protocol. The parade and it’s celebrations returned as big as ever, with a 5K race, multiple festivals, costumes, and flags. The parade was joined by almost 100 contingents, and over 100,000 people participated in the festivities across the weekend.
June 27, 2022
Two years after the 2020 Pride Parade was canceled due to COVID-19, the parade has returned, and it’s just as flamboyant as before.
Sponsored by The Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing and empowering the LGBTQ+ community, Denver PrideFest has been around since 1976. The fest occurs in the last weekend of June, which is recognized as Pride Month across the globe, and incorporates multiple festivals, a 5k race, and the parade. The fest is widely recognized across Denver and the surrounding areas as a weekend to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, dress up, and show their spirit for the end of Pride Month.
This year, the parade was joined by almost 100 contingents, most of whom marched in the parade themselves, an occasional few building their own floats and decorating them with flags. Employee’s friends and families joined the parade, walking with their company’s group. Many groups passed out stickers, magnets, and necklaces into the crowd as they walked past.
Over 100,000 people participated in the parade, which began downtown in Cheeseman Park and stretched over 14 blocks of Colfax Avenue. Observers listened to hosts Debbie Scheer and Jon Jon Lennon as they announced the arriving floats over loudspeakers that could be heard blocks away.
Over the course of nearly five hours, a grand mix of vehicles, people, and floats passed through Colfax avenue, and both marchers and observers danced to popular queer anthems, such as Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”
The parade wrapped up with a grand finale presented by El Potrero, a popular Spanish LGBTQ+ drag bar and nightclub. Dancers dressed in feathery costumes and wearing stilts walked or rode through the streets, eliciting cheers from the observers as the parade came to a close.
This gallery is a collection of moments from throughout the parade.
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A marcher holds up a fan that reads “Iconic” as they smile out into the crowd.
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A member of the Aurora Fire Rescue service hangs a pride flag on the side of a firetruck. All across Cheesman Park, people were spread out greeting friends, setting up decorations, or readying their floats before the parade began at 9 a.m.
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Observers laugh and cheer as they watch the Flaggots, a dance group, perform at the beginning of the parade.
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Members of the Flaggot dance group perform to Diana Ross’s “I’m Comin’ Out,” one of the most well-known queer anthems.
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A person dressed up as the scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz” cheers with the crowd as they pass by on a float sponsored by realtor Vivi Gloriod.
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A King Soopers representative passes out rainbow snap bracelets to the crowd. Along with watching the festivities, observers were often treated to free goodies passed out by those in the parade.
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A person in a Mandalorian costume points at observers as they walk by, surrounded by fellow Star Wars characters all wearing plastic rainbow leis and waving flags.
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The crowds stretched all the way down fourteen blocks of Colfax Avenue and spilled into the Civic Center, where the festival would be held later in the day.
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Midway through the parade, a Planned Parenthood float rolled through the streets. Just one day after Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, was overturned, the crowds cheered for the members of Planned Parenthood at the parade. Marchers carried signs that read “Abortion is a human right,” and “Together we fight for all.”
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Onlookers cheered from balconies as well as the streets, many even interacting with the marchers.
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Many children attended the parade, some even walking in it like this child, who waved a flag and did cartwheels.
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A lone person walked down the center of the street carrying a sign that read “I have marched for justice since 1965,” eliciting loud cheers from the audience.
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A person from the Denver Squid water polo team walks on their hands during the parade.
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A Denver Center for the Performing Arts representative waves at crowds and passes out water bottles as they pass.
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A member of the Colorado Avalanche Celly Squad plays the drums as the procession moves down the streets.
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Members of Cheer Colorado perform a routine to multiple songs as they move through the parade.
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A marcher blows a large bubble into the crowd as they walk.
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An observer cheers and claps as they watch the parade go by.
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College View Elementary mentor Calvin Arsenia plays the harp from the back of a truck.
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Superhero: A member of CaptainColorado, a charity cosplay community, rides on a motorcycle dressed as popular Marvel character Captain America.
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A person cheers from the back of a truck as they wave a small progress pride flag, surrounded by straight ally, bisexual pride, and transgender pride flags.
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A member of El Potrero dressed as a large owl walks through the parade on stilts.
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This story won Second Place Digital Media Photo Slideshow from CSPA. The featured image, “Proud,” won Certificate of Merit Digital Media Single-Spot News Photograph from CSPA.
