Pride Toronto is happy to announce that planning for a physical Pride Month and Festival Weekend is in full swing for 2022 – The full month of programming will begin on June 1, concluding with the annual Festival Weekend on June 24-25-26, 2022.
Pride Toronto will ensure Pride Month and Festival Weekend will be organized in alignment with the City of Toronto’s Public Health recommendations.
The long-awaited return will include all of your signature favourites including the annual Trans March, Dyke March, Bi+ Pride Programming, Blockorama by Blackness Yes, Pride Parade, StreetFair, and multiple stages featuring over 300 2SLGBTQ+ artists.
We are also excited to include the annual City of Toronto Flag Raising on June 1, 2022, and Cabana Pool Party with Symone on June 15, 2022, Island Party on June 19, 2022, with so much more to be announced in 2022.
Book your stay now by visiting PrideToronto.com/VisitUs to find a list of hotel and travel partners with exclusive Pride Toronto discount codes. It’s been a long two years, you won’t want to miss this.
Headliners
Queen of Dancehall, Spice
Pride Toronto will kick off Festival Weekend with Jamaican-born dancehall recording artist, singer and songwriter Grace Hamilton, AKA Spice. Known as the “Queen of Dancehall”, Spice is recognized to be one of the biggest dancehall artists in the world. Her mixtape “Captured” debuted at #1 in 2018 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, and in 2021, released her debut studio album “10”.
The Legendary House of Miyake Mugler
Ballroom legends and winners of season two of HBO’s Legendary will be joining us on the YDS stage as part of our Festival Weekend kick-off. Consisting of five members – Father Arturo Mugler, Diego Mugler, Malik Mugler, Prince Mugler, and Tati Mugler – the season two champions will open the night with a stellar vogue performance.
The Ebony Enchantress, Symone
Best known as the Winner of season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Symone will be joining Pride Toronto at Cabana Pool Bar for our annual Pool Party Event.
Changes to Parade Participation
Pride Toronto continues a legacy that is deeply intertwined with the rich, progressive history of Toronto’s queer community. The annual Pride parade began over 50 years ago as a protest and continues today to create community, celebrate achievements, and honour the history of the movement. The parade has come a long way from its beginnings and in a continued effort to maintain and honour our political grassroots history as well as to align with new sustainability efforts, Pride Toronto will be eliminating the use of flatbed floats and gas-powered vehicles in 2022 and will be moving to smaller green-powered vehicles.
This decision was made through conversations with Toronto’s 2SLGBTQ+ community, stakeholders, and partners and ultimately aligns with Pride Toronto’s strategic pillars of environmental sustainability and efforts to reduce corporate brand presence on the Festival’s footprint.
We recognize that this is not the finite answer to the concerns brought forth by the community, but this is the first step. “Pride Toronto has a special responsibility to promote environmental sustainability, in the face of the increasingly dire threat of climate change,” said Grant Gonzales and Yuri Hernandez, Co-Chairs, Board of Directors. “We are greatly appreciative of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, stakeholders, and partners for accommodating this important shift, and we are beyond excited to celebrate the 2022 Pride Festival together in person.”
All parade participants who wish to include a vehicle activation will be required to select from environmentally sustainable vehicle types. Green vehicle activations can include a trailer no more than 14 feet in length in an effort to maintain the parade viewership experience while negotiating and balancing brand presence. Parade contingents will be able to include select green vehicles for accessibility, operations, and activational purposes. Full details are to be released with our Parade launch in January 2022.
