Aldermen Approve Pride Fest Split, Organizers Prep for ‘Pride Week’

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) and Ald. James Cappleman (46th) have official approved the split of Chicago’s annual Pride Fest, moving the street festival to the weekend before the parade, ChicagoPride.com reports.

Patch broke the news in February that the Northalsted Business Alliance was working on the split, but weeks later, Tunney said he had yet to approve any changes to the Boystown festival.

Now organizers say they’re officially ready to prepare for “Pride Week,” a series of events between the festival on June 22-23 and the parade the following Sunday.

"We are thrilled as a community to have the amazing support of the aldermen and the neighbors for this festival," Sean Kowta, Hydrate general manager and co-chair of the organizing committee, told ChicagoPride.com.

And the parade is not coordinated by the Northalsted Business Alliance, but by Richard Pfeiffer of PRIDEChicago, who confirmed the parade will the be the same route as last year.

Erin Duffy, director of communications and community outreach with Tunney’s office, says the alderman initially had reservations about approving the split because it would bring another alcohol-fueled weekend to Lake View. Last year’s Pride Parade saw upwards of 850,000 people in Boystown.

"The expanded weekend will allow us to really grow Pride Fest in Chicago," Kowta told ChicagoPride.com. "We hope that people will make Chicago a week-long destination for pride - from Pride Fest to the Parade." 

Although Wilson Phillips has already been announced for Boystown’s Market Days celebration, the acts at Pride Fest remain a mystery.  

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