Oakland's traditional Labor Day Weekend Pride festivities will, for the first time this year, include an actual parade. As the Bay Area Reporter tells us via Oakland Pride's newsletter, the plan is to have a full-scale march with multiple contingents on Sunday, August 31 to parade up the five blocks from Downtown (14th and Broadway) to Uptown, at 20th and Broadway, which is where the entrance to the Pride festival grounds will be.
Oakland has been celebrating its own LGBT Pride since 2010, and prior to that, from 1998 to 2004 there was a smaller East Bay Pride event that took place in and around Frank Ogawa Plaza. This will mark the first time that the East Bay LGBT community will have a parade of its own, and it should be noted that the area of 14th Street and Broadway became a hub, particularly for trans youth, on weekend nights in recent years.
The fun will go from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on August 31, and the parade kicks off promptly at 10:30. Admission to the festival is $10 for adults, and for a $5 additional advance fee, you can get a seat in the VIP parade grandstand by emailing [email protected]. Otherwise, the parade will be free.
Here's the festival map, and note that while the parade will be down Broadway, the festival grounds are on Franklin between 19th and 22nd Streets. If you have a product or service you'd like to hawk to the LGBTs, there's still time to register for an exhibitor booth.
Also, Oakland Pride is hosting a Friday night party at the de Young Museum this week, on August 8, and they will be having a fundraising gala on August 16 featuring wine, art, and music, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Betti Ono Gallery. Get tickets here ($75).
