Twin Cities Pride
About This Event
Twin Cities Pride in Minneapolis is one of the largest Prides in the US Midwest and one of the oldest: its roots go back to a small march in 1972. It's run by the nonprofit Twin Cities Pride, and it bills its festival as the largest free Pride festival in the region. It made national news in 2025 when it turned down Target's sponsorship over the company's DEI rollbacks, lost around $700,000 in corporate money, and kept going with grants and small donors.
The festival takes over Loring Park, next to downtown, for the weekend, with hundreds of vendor and community booths, stages, food and a beer garden. The parade runs on Sunday morning down Hennepin Avenue. Both are free. The Saturday night scene is centred on the Gay 90's and the other bars around Hennepin and downtown, and Loring Park itself becomes a giant picnic in good weather.
Pride is the last full weekend of June, with the festival on Saturday and Sunday and the parade on the Sunday morning, sometimes with a Friday evening opener. Downtown and Loring Park hotels are the convenient choice and fill early, so book a month or two ahead; the light rail makes St. Paul a cheaper base. Late June in Minnesota can mean warm, humid days and sudden thunderstorms, so check the forecast before the parade.
The 2026 festival ran on 27 and 28 June in Loring Park, with the parade on Sunday 28 June along Hennepin Avenue and "Our Voices, Our Future" as the theme in the organisers' sponsorship materials. The organisers' own figure for 2025 was 475,000 people across the festival and parade; no 2026 count had been published when we checked. The 2027 dates hadn't been announced either.
Parade Route
Where to stay during Twin Cities Pride
via Stay2211 gay bars, clubs & saunas from our guide Purple outline = where the gay scene is concentrated
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Rain doesn't put a damper on Twin Cities Pride
