One of the biggest free Pride events in the country returns to Exeter city centre this weekend.
Exeter Pride, a celebration of LGBTQ+ communities, takes place on Saturday, 11 May with a march through the city centre and a host of other events.
The march will start in Sidwell Street, just off Summerland Street, gathering from 11.30am and beginning at 12pm. It will head down the High Street and turn right on to Queen Street, ending just before Northernhay Gardens around 1pm.
The march will include giant rainbow flags, the Street Heat samba band, Morris dancers, roller derby and thousands of representatives from community groups and organisations.
At Northernhay Gardens, between 1 – 5pm, there will a variety of stalls from local vendors, charity organisations and wellbeing groups.
Food and drink will also be sold in the park and visitors are encouraged to take along a blanket and picnic whilst buskers and drag acts provide unplugged entertainment.
Music, cabaret, a drag competition, clothes swaps, family-focused events and more will be on offer at Exeter Library from 10am – 4pm and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum from 1 – 4.30pm.
At Exeter Phoenix there will be family and youth zones, and acoustic music in the auditorium from 2 – 6pm, and the afternoon will finish with stack of drag performers and a drag king competition! Later Exeter Phoenix hosts a party from 7pm – late.
Exeter Pride trustees and volunteers have built on the success of last year’s Rainbow Fayre by bringing back the march through the city centre and reintroducing Northernhay Gardens stalls for 2024.
Local resident Alan Quick had the idea of holding a regular Pride event in the city in 2008 and it was local LGBTQ+ charity Intercom and a small group of people, including Alan, which co-ordinated the first Exeter Pride.
It was held in Exeter Phoenix and Exeter Library in February 2009 to coincide with LGBT History Month. The first ever Pride march through the streets of Exeter took place in 2010 and in 2013 the event expanded to include a marketplace of local organisations and businesses.
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