Santa Monica gears up for inaugural month-long Pride festival
SaMo PRIDE returns with first-ever SaMo PRIDE Festival, “Colors of PRIDE” featuring installations and community events in a month-long Pride celebration that unites the community and LGBTQ+ supporters of all ages.
The month-long celebration SaMo PRIDE returns in June with activities and experiences that honor the LGBTQ+ community. SaMo PRIDE is a citywide partnership between Santa Monica Place, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. and Santa Monica Pier, in collaboration with the City of Santa Monica and Santa Monica Travel and Tourism.
On Saturday, June 3 the first-ever SaMo PRIDE Festival will turn the entire downtown district, from the Third Street Promenade through Santa Monica Place to the Santa Monica Pier, into a PRIDE zone. All ages are welcome to enjoy live musical performances, PRIDE-related treats, free swag, games and much more. The Santa Monica Public Library will share queer books for kids, featuring a special Drag Queen storytime, suited for all ages and abilities. Local service providers and community groups will offer support and resources for the LGBTQ+ community throughout the event along the Promenade. Presented in partnership with Cayton’s Children’s Museum, the Santa Monica Place family zone will provide kid-friendly PRIDE activities, transforming Center Plaza into an interactive space for kids to play and learn about inclusivity and acceptance.
“Colors of PRIDE” photobooth installations, designed by LGBTQ+ artists, will be placed throughout the SaMo PRIDE Festival with fun, interactive props. Photos from the installations will be assembled to create a photographic mosaic, bringing the three districts together in a rainbow of colors that make up the LGBTQ+ Progress PRIDE flag.
The celebration continues throughout the month with events that bring together the community including the Made with PRIDE Marketplace, a unique retail pop-up hosted every Friday through Sunday in June at Santa Monica Place on Level One. Hosted in partnership with Streetlet, the Marketplace showcases over a dozen LGBTQ+ business owners, highlighting their stories and featuring local goods and services made, conceived and curated in Southern California. Santa Monica Place will also host a live DJ spinning every weekend throughout the month where guests can enjoy music under “Lanterns of Love,” an overhead colored lantern installation that spans across Center Plaza.
The City of Santa Monica is dedicated to increasing visibility and understanding of the broad spectrum of gender identities and experiences within the LGBTQ+ community. The City celebrates PRIDE with the month-long lighting of City Hall in rainbow colors and a series of educational, uplifting events during the month of June. Community events include the City’s PRIDE Proclamation on May 23; live music, theatre and dance performances by SORORITY: WAVES on June 4; Rainbow Family Storytime at the Santa Monica Public Library on June 6; an AIDS LifeCycle Ride finish line celebration on June 10; Queer Prom for LGBTQ+ youth on June 12; Drag Queen Storytime on June 16; PRIDE sunset swim at the Annenberg Community Beach House on June 23; Sapphic Poetry Workshop on June 24; Party with a Purpose mixer and fundraiser on June 29; and much more. The Santa Monica History Museum, in partnership with the OUTWORDS Archive, will feature the exhibit “Coming Out West”, a video-based collection of oral histories of Santa Monica Bay area LGBTQ+ elders, opening June 1.
For more information and the full calendar of SaMo PRIDE events visit smpride.com.
For sponsorship inquiries please reach out to DTSM, Inc. Director of Marketing & Partnerships Ariana Gomez at ariana@downtownsm.com.
About SaMo PRIDE
To further embrace the city’s core values of equity and inclusion, SaMo PRIDE was established in 2019 as a city-wide partnership between the City of Santa Monica, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica Place and Santa Monica Travel and Tourism dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and providing a platform to champion individuality and acceptance. Since its inaugural year, SaMo PRIDE has evolved into a rich community tradition with displays, events and activities for all ages that encapsulate the city’s inclusive and diverse spirit. SaMo PRIDE continues to strive to increase visibility and understanding of the broad spectrum of gender identities and experiences within the LGBTQ+ community.
Santa Monica has received a perfect score on the Human Rights’ Campaign’s 2022 Municipal Equality Index in recognition of the community’s broad commitment to LGBTQ+ equity inclusion, creation of safe spaces, inclusive policies, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ protections. For more information and a full list of PRIDE events visit smpride.com.
