What to know about Austin Pride 2022, from dates to parade route – Austin American-Statesman

A lot has happened since Austin Pride last brought its colors to the capital of Texas in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has threatened community bonds and stymied the annual celebration twice. Development has disrupted the Warehouse District heart of the city’s LGBTQ bars. A wave of policies in Texas and across the country have undermined the rights of LGBTQ people.

But LGBTQ pride gatherings have also caught on in smaller surrounding communities. The inaugural Gay Pride Festival was held in Taylor last year; 2022 has seen Round Rock, Leander, Bastrop and Pflugerville follow suit.

Austin Pride’s 2022 festivities kick off this week and continue through next weekend. Seeing families gathered for Pride “solidifies what your community actually is,” said Beau Seddon, who owns the queer-focused salon Scissor Sisters Hair Show in Austin. “This community is a lifeline for us, it’s how we connect and normalize ourselves.”

Monica Monae is one of many Austin drag artists who will perform during Austin Pride.

“It will be very exciting to be back on the big stage,” Monae said. “I love what I do; I love performing and I love the community. So seeing everyone come together is going to feel very nostalgic, seeing all of the city’s beautiful people coming back together again.”

Here’s what you need to know about Austin Pride 2022.

When is Austin Pride Festival and Parade?

This year’s Austin Pride Festival and Parade will take place on Aug. 20. The festival happens from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Fiesta Gardens (2101 Jesse Segovia St.). Then, the parade kicks off from the Capitol at 8 p.m. and marches down Congress Avenue, with the official festivities wrapping at 11 p.m.

How long has Austin had a Pride Parade, and why is it in August?

The history of LGBTQ pride events in Austin is long, as the American-Statesman’s Michael Barnes chronicled in 2015, the 25th anniversary of official celebrations in the city.

In April 1970, the year after the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, “the first publicly promoted meeting of Austin homosexuals drew only 25 brave souls to the University Y on Guadalupe Street,” Barnes wrote.

In June 1976, Mayor Jeff Friedman proclaimed a Gay Pride Week Celebration, which brought a parade to Second Street and Congress Avenue. The first Gay and Lesbian Pride Fiesta was held in 1990, marking the beginning of the city’s annual celebration. The official Pride Parade came along in 2002.

Pride Month is celebrated around the country in June, of course, to mark the anniversary of Stonewall, which kicked off the modern LGBTQ rights movement. So why is Austin Pride later in the year? Austin Gay and Lesbian Pride Foundation moved the event to September in 2011, when more university students were in town. It’s been held in August since 2015. Holding the event later in the year also helps organizers attract more entertainers than if they tried to compete with other Pride events in June, foundation President Micah Andress told public radio station KUT in 2019.

Is this the first Austin Pride since the pandemic?

It sure is. Despite hopes for events in 2020 and 2021, Austin Pride organizers held off on festivities those years due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. An added bummer: The 2020 event would have marked three decades of the festival, but organizers are still celebrating Austin Pride’s 30th event this month.

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What’s happening at the Austin Pride Festival?

Rap star CupcakKe is scheduled to headline this year’s festival; a full schedule and lineup of performers has yet to be released. Organizers promise inflatable games, carnival rides, drag queen story time, vendors and food and drinks.

Tickets purchased online by Friday cost $17, with a $150 VIP option. You also can purchase tickets at the gate on Saturday: $20 for adults, $10 for ages 7 to 17 and free for kids 6 and younger.

What’s happening at Austin Pride Parade?

Every year (pandemics notwithstanding), LGBTQ folks and their allies line Congress Avenue downtown to watch marchers and floats pass by. It’s free to attend. (And if you’re old enough, you can head over to the Warehouse District’s LGBTQ bars after to keep the party going.)

Is there anything else happening for Austin Pride?

There’s actually a week of parties leading up to the festival and parade. Things kick off at 7 p.m. on Aug. 11 with a Jazz at Pride concert at Skybox on 6th (501 W. Sixth St. on the fourth floor).

Catch special Pride Week performances of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” from The Stage Austin at 8 p.m. on Aug. 12 and 13 at the Dougherty Arts Center (1110 Barton Springs Road); general admission tickets cost $25 at austinpride.org.

A Family Pride event comes to the Thinkery from 3 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 14 at 1830 Simond Ave.

Catch a free, family-friendly “Out at the Movie” screening of “Sister Act” at 8 p.m. on Aug. 15 at the Lawn at the Domain (11410 Century Oaks Terrace). Bring a folding chair and a blanket; concessions will be available.

More:Austin’s superstar drag queen will walk in New York Fashion Week

Fourth & Co. will host Dirty Dynasty Bingo with local drag performers Lady Grackle Birdbreath and Cupcake at 7 p.m. on Aug. 16 at 208 W. Fourth St. The 18-and-up event will be free to play, and there will be prizes.

Honor the late Olivia Newton-John with your best “Xanadu” spirit at Rainbow Skate, coming from 7 to 10 p.m. on Aug. 17 at Playland Skate Center (8822 McCann Drive). DJ Chorizo Funk will spin. All ages welcome.

Drip Drop 10, a 21-and-up pool party, will be held from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Aug. 19 at Rio Nightclub & Dayclub (601 Rio Grande St.). DJ Melissa Bellz will spin; admission is $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

Katy-Ann McDonald contributed to this story.

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