See Moments From Denver’s Annual Pride Parade

Quinn Rudnick

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.

Quinn Rudnick, Managing Editor
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.

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.