Tampa Pride is back on Saturday in Ybor City for a day of family-friendly fun and celebration.
The day’s events will include a Tampa Pride Street Festival and Health and Wellness Fair, a Diversity Parade along Seventh Avenue in Ybor City and a Pride at Night party at the Cuban Club.
The parade was held last year with a rainbow of pastel capes and shirts that said “Free Dad Hugs,” which paradegoers said was a nice respite from a political climate that has caused grave concerns surrounding LGBTQ issues.
Tampa has a complicated history with Pride events.
Hillsborough County once had a law banning the government from acknowledging, promoting or participating in LGBTQ Pride recognition or events. It took eight years before the County Commission, which by then counted openly gay Kevin Beckner as a member, voted unanimously to repeal the ban in 2013.
The next year, the Tampa Pride Diversity Festival and Parade was born, and it has grown each year since.
The Tampa Pride Street Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. at the Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus, 2112 N 15th St. It will include an arts and crafts show, a community health fair and an entrepreneurs’ area.
There will also be a Food Truck alley located on 14th Street between Ninth Avenue and Palm Avenue.
The Tampa Pride Diversity Parade kicks off at 4 p.m., starting at the corner of Nuccio Parkway and East Seventh Avenue.
After the parade, the Pride at Night party for ages 18 and older begins at 6 p.m. at the Cuban Club, 2010 N Avenida Republica de Cuba, Tampa.
For more information on all of the festivities, visit tampapride.org.