Can you believe it!? Philly Pride is in just 4 days!! On Sunday, June 12th Philadelphia will be hosting its 28th annual Pride Parade and Festival. So for those of you who will be in the area here is a quick rundown of the festivities.

Kicking Off the Weekend

The Friday and Saturday before the Parade and Festival will feature events made to get everyone revved up for Pride. There’s a Block Party in the Gayborhood on Friday, and the Philly Dyke March and Gay Bingo on Saturday. You can find out more information on these events here.

The Parade

Philly Pride on Sunday consists of two major events: the parade and the festival. The parade portion will be starting at 11:30 AM in the Gayborhood at the corner of 13th and Locust Streets and will end in Penn’s Landing. If you follow the parade route, you’ll pass through Center City, Olde City, and even take a stroll down Market Street. And along the route, you can find designated performance spots where you can be entertained by all the parade pageantry. You can see the parade route here.

The Festival

The parade culminates into a Pride Festival held in Penn’s Landing which is at the waterfront of the Delaware River. There is a $15 admission fee for the festival, but if you buy your ticket at the Block Party on Friday, you can get it for $10 instead. There will be plenty of acts on stage for you to enjoy. Deborah Cox is headlining the festival, and she will be accompanied by popular acts like the Prancing Elite whom you may recognize from their television show on Oxygen. Here is the complete festival line-up.

After Hours

If you’re looking for somewhere to get your drink on after the parade and festival, you will not find a shortage of bars and clubs. If you take a walk up South Street, you’ll find bars like iCandy and Woody’s who both have ads on their websites for specials during Pride. And clubs like Voyeur and The Bike Stop also have Pride weekend events advertised. For some other bar suggestions, you can look to Philadelphia Magazine’s list of top gay bars found here.

So there you have it, Philly Pride in a nutshell. Whether you live in or around Philly or are going to travel to take part in the events, have fun and be safe. And if you see me out there give me a holler. Now let those rainbow flags fly!