Organizers of D.C.’s Capital Pride Parade and Festival, the two largest events of the city’s annual Pride celebration in June, say they are expecting a record turnout for the two events, which will resume this year after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.

The parade, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 11, and the festival, scheduled for Sunday, June 12, have attracted hundreds of thousands of participants and spectators in past years, many of whom travel to D.C. from up and down the mid-Atlantic region as well as other parts of the country.

Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s Pride events, announced earlier this year that it had changed the parade route so that it will begin where it had ended in past years but will retain mostly the same route. The group says the parade was scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. at 14th and T streets, N.W., and travel south on 14th Street to Rhode Island Avenue, where it will turn right and travel to Massachusetts Avenue.

From there it will turn onto the section of 17th Street where LGBTQ-friendly restaurants, bars, and other businesses are located. An all-day Capital Pride Block Party will be held that same day on a two-block section of 17th Street next to the section of 17th Street where the parade will travel.

After traveling just two blocks on 17th Street the parade will turn left on P Street and travel to Dupont Circle, where it will proceed  halfway around the circle and continue on P Street, where it will end at 22nd and P streets.

Like past years, organizers expect thousands of people to line the streets along the parade route observing the dozens of parade contingents, which will include floats from organizations and LGBTQ supportive businesses as well as individual LGBTQ people and their supporters marching in the parade.

Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride executive director, said among those organizing parade contingents this year will be candidates running for public office in the city’s June 21 primary election, including D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and her lead primary opponent, D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At-Large).

“Be prepared to experience one of the largest Pride Parades to ever take place in the United States Capital,” a statement released by Capital Pride says. “In 2022, a modified route will honor our history and acknowledge the evolution of the LGBTQ+ neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., while respecting the origins and importance of taking to the streets in our fight for equality,” the statement says.

Bos said Capital Pride organizers have also learned that LGBTQ people and their allies expected to come to D.C. on June 11 for the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence, which is scheduled to take place on the grounds of the Washington Monument from 12-2 p.m., were planning to join or turn out as observers of the Capital Pride parade.

March for Our Lives is an organization founded by student survivors of the 2018 high school shooting incident in Parkland, Fla., that took the lives of 14 students and three staff members. Hundreds of thousands participated in the group’s first protest in D.C. later that year. As of early this week, organizers stated on the group’s website that the event would be limited to the Washington Monument rally.  

Also scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 11 from 2-9 p.m. is the 3rd Annual Pride on the Pier event at the Wharf, the city’s bustling Southwest waterfront entertainment district. The event, organized by the Washington Blade in partnership with LURe DC and The Wharf, will include entertainment, DJs, dancing and the Pride on the Pier Fireworks Show at 9 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, with VIP tickets available for purchase. Local DJs Eletrox, Jai Syncere and Sean Morris will perform throughout the event, with the entertainment and dancing taking place on the District Pier. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older. Further details, including information about the VIP area and tickets can be viewed at PrideOnThePierDC.com.

On Sunday, June 12, the day following the parade and Pride On The Pier, the Capital Pride Festival and Concert will return to a four-block section of Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., with the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop for the first time since 2019. Capital Pride officials say they expect one of the largest turnouts ever for the festival as it returns after the two-year break due to COVID restrictions.

On its website providing details of the festival and concert, which is held at the site of the festival, Capital Pride predicts “nearly a half million people” were expected to attend the festival, which begins at noon and lasts until 10 p.m. It will take place on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. between 3rd Street and 7th Street as well as on sections 4th Street and 6th Street and Constitution Avenue that intersect with Pennsylvania Avenue. 

“Join the LGBTQ+ community on America’s Mainstreet, historic Pennsylvania Avenue, for the return of the Capital Pride Festival,” the group says on its website. “Enjoy a full day of entertainment on three stages, food, drink, and advocacy with over 300 exhibitors,” a statement on the website says. “The Festival is the largest annual event in the national capital region and continues to be free to the public,” it says.

According to the statement, more than 300 exhibitors that will be located in covered booths along both sides of the street will include service organizations, social groups, businesses, amateur sports leagues, faith-based groups, educational institutions, government agencies, artists, consultants, potential employers and “much more.”

The concert part of the festival will take place on three stages and continue until 10 p.m., information on the Capital Pride website says. The headline entertainers, scheduled to perform on the main Capital Stage, will include the nationally acclaimed U.S. dance-rock band called DNCE consisting of its lead singer Joe Jonas, drummer Jack Lawless, and guitarist JinJoo Lee.

“Joining DNCE will be this year’s winner of Rupaul’s Drag Race, Willow Pill, and season 13 winner, Symone,” a statement on the Capital Pride website says. The statement says other entertainers performing on the other two stages will include some of the “best local and regional LGBTQ+ talent.”

After the exhibitor booths shut down at 7 p.m. and when the concert ends at 8 p.m. a Sunset Dance Party with music played by DJs will take place in front of the main stage between 8-10 p.m., Capital Pride organizers have announced.

In addition to the parade and festival along with the Pride on the Pier events, many additional Pride events were scheduled that began Friday, June 3, with the Capital Pride Honors party at the Penn Social nightclub in downtown D.C. OUTspoken: A Night of Queer Expression took place Monday night, June 6, at the Busboys and Poets restaurant in the city’s Brookland neighborhood.

A Pride related Drag Underground show sponsored jointly by the Blade and the Dupont Underground, the entertainment space located in the former trolly station underneath Dupont Circle, was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 10. Also sponsored by the Blade and Dupont Underground at that space is an exhibition consisting of works of 35 local artists called “The Gender Within: The Art of Identity,” which is open and free to the public each weekend in June. 

The Capital Pride Official Opening Party was scheduled for Friday, June 10, at 9 p.m. at Echostage nightclub; a Trans Pride Pool Party was scheduled for Saturday, June 11 at 7 p.m. at the VIDA Penthouse Pool & Lounge on U Street, N.W.; and Capital Pride’s Official Saturday Party was set to take place from 9 p.m.-3:30 a.m. at the City Winery. 

Further details of these and other events set to take place over the Pride weekend can be accessed at capitalpride.org and prideonthepierdc.com.