Tacoma Pride even bigger this year. Here are events happening in Pierce County
In Tacoma, Pride month doesn’t end in June.
This weekend marks the annual free Tacoma Pride Festival in the North End’s Wright Park. The Rainbow Center executive director told The News Tribune it’s going to be even bigger than last year. She expects it to draw 35,000 people.
What should you expect? What other Pride events are happening this month? The News Tribune put together a list.
This year is the second Pride festival hosted in Wright Park. The all-ages outdoor event runs Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. with 264 vendors, 11 food trucks and two stages full of performances, including drag, said Rainbow Center executive director Joanne Levy. There will be a 21+ beer garden and family-friendly activities, including access to Wright Park’s splash pad and two playgrounds.
Performances at the main stage include: Trashasaurus Rex (12:25 pm), Cheer Tacoma and Cheer Seattle (1 p.m.), Pride Halftime show (1:25 p.m.), speakers from elected officials including Executive Ryan Mello and Rep. Laurie Jinkins (2:10 p.m.), Haus of Lyfe (2:35 p.m.), NOA Disco (3:25 p.m.) and Kim Archer Band (4:30 p.m.). Performances at the community stage include: Delyla Dalyte (12:30 p.m.), bellydancing from Tacoma Dance Studios (12:45 p.m.), Diverse Harmony and Fluidity (1:35 p.m.), Rainbow Center Writers Group (2 p.m.), Elyssa Tappero: Queer Tsunami (2:20 p.m.), Tacoma Opera House (2:35 p.m.), Lakewood Playhouse (2:50 p.m.), Pacific Northwest Dance Foundation (3:15 p.m.), Justice Tall (3:50 p.m.), a fashion show (4:05 p.m.), Cheer Tacoma Interactive (4:20 p.m.) and Boots Boogie Babes (5 p.m.).
Last year the Rainbow Center’s Tacoma Pride Festival was named the best annual event in Pierce County, Levy said. The nonprofit was nominated again for 2026. More than 30,000 people attended the event last year.
Tacoma’s annual Pride celebration is funded primarily through sponsorships from local companies, vendor fees and a grant from Tacoma Creates, as opposed to large corporate sponsors, Levy said. Parking is first come, first served, and the park is right by bus lines and the South Transit T Line.
“You are loved” is the theme of this year’s Pride Festival, “a direct reaction to the hateful rhetoric [against LGBTQ+ people] that is so mainstream now,” Levy said.
For Levy, joy is a powerful tool of resistance.
“Everybody needs to know that you are loved exactly as you are, exactly as you show up,” she said. “If you want to be a warrior, come to Pride, because this is the way we fight back. We fight back through love and joy, and we create pride in action, where every single dollar that goes to this community event goes back in to serve gender-affirming care, housing, food insecurity, direct and mutual aid, specifically for the LGBTQIA+ community.”
Attendees are encouraged to bring picnic blankets, snacks and water bottles and are discouraged from bringing large pop-up tents, grills, outside alcohol or drugs. The event will happen rain or shine. Weapons are prohibited.
Levy said the Rainbow Center hired a local security firm that will be present at the festival, in addition to a group of queer security volunteers and a squad of eight “community-friendly police” officers from the Tacoma Police Department, “because Wright Park is a public land and there will be high-level elected officials” there.
AJ Blount and Britney Thompson, from season two of the Netflix series, “The Ultimatum: Queer Love,” will be brand ambassadors of the Rainbow Center for Tacoma Pride and will also be attending, Levy said.
What other events are happening this month?
- July 10- Tacoma Pride Awards, at Theatre on the Square, 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- July 11- Tacoma Pride Festival in Wright Park from noon to 6 p.m.
- July 11- The Mix 21+ Block Party from 2 p.m. to midnight, featuring a DJ set from RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Bob the Drag Queen, with performances from other local queens
- July 12- South Tacoma Pride, featuring events at Howdy Bagel, Juniper Botanical Bar, The Mule, Tacoma Drag Market and Real Art Tacoma from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- July 18- Tacoma Community House & The REACH Center’s Pride event from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 1314 South L St., Tacoma
- July 25- Puyallup Tribe Pride from 2-6 p.m. at 3001 Puyalupabsh St., Tacoma
- July 26- Tacoma Earth Gay, 10 a.m. at Charlotte’s Blueberry Park
- July 26- Puyallup Pride Fest potluck, 4 p.m. at DeCoursey Park
The News Tribune also put together a list of 10 local queer-owned businesses to support during Tacoma Pride Month.
