Santa Monica’s first Pride festival is taking over the Third Street Promenade this Saturday.
Pride on the Promenade will celebrate the LGBTQ+ community with three blocks of games, live theatre and musical performances, a DJ dance party and kids’ crafts, all under a rainbow light installation spanning the length of the Promenade. The day will start with live music and dancing at 3 p.m. and culminate with a dance party from The Abbey DJ Brynn Taylor that ends at 10 p.m.
The lineup of performers includes local and regional favorites, including Hamburger Mary’s cabaret drag show, leading LGBTQ+ comedians from the Westside Comedy Theater and dance lessons from the Arthur Murray Dance Academy.
Mackenzie Carter, director of marketing and communication at Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., said the organization wanted a diverse array of performers at the festival.
“When you’re on the Promenade on a typical day, you never know what you’re going to see — singers, dancers, people spinning plates, I even saw a contortionist rolling down the street the other day,” she said. “We wanted to live up to those expectations.”
The festival will serve as the centerpiece of SaMo PRIDE, the city’s first Pride month. During the month of June, Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica Place and the Promenade are hosting food festivals, happy hours, storytelling time for kids and silent discos to celebrate love in every color.
The Promenade will feature several photo opportunities, such as the Big Blue Bus’ Pride-wrapped bus, Carter said. It will host an edition of its Monday night Pride Ping Pong Tournament, and the Cayton Children’s Museum, which is opening later this month, will run kids’ crafts tables. Humphry Slocombe is serving up Pride-themed ice cream.
But amid the hubbub of a packed schedule, the festival will lead attendees in a Pride Moment, during which everyone will hold hands to symbolize unity and support for the LGBTQ+ community, wearing rainbow light-up wristbands. Local LGBTQ+ community members will make speeches and Maggie Szabo will perform “Don’t Give Up,” a song dedicated to trans youth.
“It’s going to be a really special moment,” Carter said.
Schedule:
Rainbow Stage (Wilshire & Third Street Promenade)
Hosted by iHeartRadio's Alexander Rodriguez and Glamazon Prime
3pm - 3:10pm- Performance from Glamazon Prime 3:10-4pm- DJ Morgan "Good Boy"
4pm - Highways presents "Sweat 4x4"
5pm - Santa Monica Playhouse's LGBTQ+ company All The Queen's Men presents "Cinderella: Topsy Turvy"
5:30pm - Halle Johnson of "American Idol" performs
6:30pm - DJ Morgan "Good Boy" and Dance with Dane Workout Class
7:15pm - Hamburger Mary's Cabaret Drag Show
7:45pm - SaMo PRIDE Moment featuring Santa Monica Mayor Gleam Davis and performance by Maggie Szabo
8pm - 10pm - DANCE PARTY Under the Rainbow with The Abbey's DJ Brynn Taylor
Channel Q Stage (Broadway at Third Street Promenade)
Hosted by Channel Q's Shira Lazar and Ryan Mitchell
3pm - Dance with Dane! A free and fabulous workout class
4pm - Performances by the Third Street Promenade's best buskers
5pm - LGBTQ+ Dance Performance and Dance lessons from Arthur Murray Dance Academy
6pm - Musical performance by Maggie Szabo
6:30pm - Comedy show featuring Drew Kraft and Melanie Vasey
7pm - DJ/Violinist Crissy J and Various Poets & Artists
Attendees can enjoy adult beverages at the SaMo Pride COCKTAIL LOUNGE at 1212 Restaurant complete with a patio beer garden and viewing of the Main Stage.
Pride on the Promenade is proudly sponsored by Compass, T-Mobile and Vital Proteins.
madeleine@smdp.com
This article was updated June 14 at 12 p.m.
