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Seattle Pride is upon us, with parades, events, and celebration happening all weekend (and week!) long through June 30. Whether you want to jump in and celebrate, avoid crowds and closures, or a little bit of columns A and B, here’s a helpful breakdown of what’s happening.
Friday, June 28: Trans Pride and block parties on Capitol Hill
Don’t wait until Sunday—the biggest parties and even marches start Friday (although there are absolutely things happening all week leading up to it, too).
Trans Pride: Location, hours, and getting there
Trans Pride is back for another year, and features performances, including music and comedy, from Seattle’s trans community, after a march in Capitol Hill.
The main event is at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill, which is also the end point for the march. Folks will start lining up for the march at 5 p.m. at Broadway and Thomas, then start moving at 6 p.m., arriving at Cal Anderson starting about 6:30 p.m.
Link Light Rail will take you straight to Cal Anderson—one exit to the Capitol Hill Station is literally inside the park—and will get you just a couple of blocks from the march starting point.
If you’re bus-bound, the King County Metro Route 11 from downtown or Madison Park will get you closest to the exact location, but the 10, 43, 49, and 60 will all get you within a block. The 10, 43, and 49 run from downtown; the 60 runs from White Center through Beacon Hill and Georgetown. The 49, going the other way, will take you straight there from the U District.
Parking is going to be tricky. It’s a Friday night on Capitol Hill, plus Pride weekend, plus street closures. If you can’t avoid driving, plan on getting there early and using a pay lot, just to be safe. The Seattle Central College garage is a nearby, popular option and costs $10 per day—but it’s likely to fill up fast, especially considering all the revelry in the neighborhood.
Trans Pride march route
Trans Pride’s march route is typically short and just around the Cal Anderson area, and this year is no different: Starting at Broadway and Thomas, it moves south on Broadway, east on Pike, and north on 11th Avenue to the Cal Anderson meadow.
Friday Pride parties
Capitol Hill is going to be one huge pride party, but a couple of places are going above and beyond with block parties and revelry in the streets. The most popular and long-running party is the massive Wildrose block party, which starts Friday night, but even more businesses are running parties in the street than ever before.
Wildrose’s 15,000-square-foot celebration spans from 10th to 11th Avenue E on E Pike Street and on 11th from E Pike to E Union, starting 6 p.m. on Friday and running all weekend long. Around the corner, Queer/Bar extends the block party into an L shape, blocking off 11th Avenue between Pike and Pine for revelry.
Additionally, starting at 4 p.m. Friday and running through 2 a.m. every night, Union is having a no-cover block party on 14th Avenue between Union and Madison. (Watch for more parties on Saturday!)
Pretty much every bar in Capitol Hill (and many bars elsewhere) is having some sort of Pride thing—definitely Friday, but probably tonight, tomorrow, and every day leading up to Pride weekend. The Stranger’s queer calendar is a great guide.
Friday Pride street closures
Trans Pride is mostly confined to Cal Anderson, but during the march plan to use alternate routes around Capitol Hill.
Wildrose and Queer/Bar’s Pride celebrations close 10th to 11th Avenue East on East Pike Street and on 11th from Pike to Pine starting at 6 p.m. on Friday straight on through til Monday morning at 2 a.m. 14th between Union and Madison are closed starting Friday afternoon through 2 a.m. Monday morning for Union’s festivities.
Saturday, June 29: PrideFest Capitol Hill, Capitol Hill Pride, Dyke March, Family Day, Queer Youth Pride
Capitol Hill—historically Seattle’s gayborhood and the original site of Seattle Pride, including the parade—has a whole lot of programming on Saturday, although there’s big stuff going on in the neighborhood all weekend.
Pride in Capitol Hill: Location, hours, and getting there
Something will be happening on Capitol Hill at pretty much all hours of the day on Saturday, but especially concentrated within several blocks of Broadway from Pine to Roy—between Pridefest Capitol Hill and events put on by local businesses, there’s something everywhere.
Pridefest sets up along Broadway from John to Roy, and local drag staple Julia’s extends the party one block east on Thomas. Queer Youth Pride is clustered in Cal Anderson Park.
Basically: expect drag, dancing, DJs, and swag from noon to about 9 p.m. in the streets. Queer Youth Pride starts out with drag storytime at 1 p.m.
Capitol Hill Pride—yes, it’s different from Capitol Hill Pridefest—is clustered around Seattle Central College. That starts at 10 a.m., with a march taking off at noon. There’s a doggy drag contest at 11 a.m., too.
Seattle Central College is also the starting point for the Dyke March at 5 p.m.
Two more block parties join the previous collection, too: The Elysian has a beer garden set up outside its doors at 13th and Pike, and the Cuff is once again having a block party on 13th between Pike and Pine—reserving more street space for celebration rather than cars.
Meanwhile these things are still happening:
- Wildrose Pride, Queer/Bar Pride, and Union Pride continue over in the Pike/Pine/Union/Madison corridor.
- Again, pretty much every bar in Capitol Hill (and many other places!) is having some sort of Pride thing, and the Stranger’s queer calendar is a great guide.
Transit is going to be the same for a lot of these. Link Light Rail is a great option—the Capitol Hill Station has exits at Broadway and John, Broadway and Denny, and the middle of Cal Anderson Park.
If you’re going to the south end of Broadway, try the 11, which goes up Pine, or the 2, which goes up Union. The 49 and the 60 should take you anywhere along the festivities, but they’ll be rerouted off Broadway itself. The 43 and the 10 will take you right into the center of the action at Broadway and John.
Parking is going to be tricky, again—any weekend on Capitol Hill is bad, plus Pride, plus street closures. The Seattle Central College garage and the Broadway Market garage are both right near the festivities and are relatively large, but will still probably fill up fast. Best to avoid driving if you can.
Capitol Hill Pride March route
The Capitol Hill Pride March hasn’t posted its route yet, but it was pretty straightforward last year: It started at Broadway and Pine, heading up Pine to 12th, north on 12th to John, west on John to Broadway, then back to the starting point.
Seattle Dyke March route
The Dyke March hasn’t posted its official route yet, in years past it has also gone in a kind of rectangle between 12th and Broadway.
Saturday Pride street closures
Wildrose Pride continues to close 10th to 11th Avenue East on East Pike Street, along with closures on 11th between Pike and Pine for Queer/Bar’s block party. Closures in the Pike/Pine corridor continue up on 13th between Pike and Pine for the Cuff’s party.
Between Capitol Hill Pridefest and Julia’s, don’t count on getting a car onto Broadway between John and Roy anytime on Saturday.
Expect closures along the Dyke March and Capitol Hill Pride march routes—the parts that aren’t already affected by Pridefest—starting around noon and 5 p.m. around the area between Broadway and 12th.
Sunday, June 30: Downtown Seattle Pride Parade and PrideFest in Seattle Center
Seattle’s largest Pride parade—which moved downtown from Broadway in 2006—is a big weekend draw on Sunday morning, although it’s not Seattle’s only Pride celebration.
Seattle Pride Parade route
The Seattle Pride Parade, like last year, starts at Fourth Avenue and Union Street and ends around Denny and Broad—right by the Seattle Center, where Sunday’s PrideFest will be in full swing. The parade will run from 11 a.m. to around 3 p.m.
Seattle Pride Parade street closures
Streets along Fourth Avenue in the Downtown area—from Denny all the way down to the staging area at Fourth and Washington—will start to close in the early morning. The parade’s supposed to end around 3 p.m., but probably best not to plan on being able to get through until the evening.
PrideFest at Seattle Center: location, hours, and getting there
From noon to 8 p.m., Seattle Center will be in full pride mode, with multiple stages of performers across the Seattle Center campus.
Buses run all along the edges of Seattle Center—so take your pick if you’re checking out the whole festival, or pick and choose based on what stage you’re most attached to. The 8, which runs from Capitol Hill, hits both the south and west sides of the Seattle Center, going past the Space Needle and the mural stage before turning the corner to Key Arena—for decent access to the fountain. The 1, 2, 13, 32, and RapidRide D also run along the west side of the Center by the Key. For the east side of Seattle Center, try the 3 or the 4, which come from upper Queen Anne on one side and from downtown and the Central District on the other.
If you must drive, the Seattle Center does have parking garages—but they can get spendy. Rates go from $6 for a quick stop or $30 for a full day. (They’ll also probably fill up fast.)
Other Sunday festivities
Did you think the only Sunday thing going was a massive, corporate-sponsored festival? The other revelry is still going strong with a snowballing collection of block parties:
- Wildrose Pride and Queer/Bar Pride are still happening in the Pike/Pine corridor.
- Union Pride is still happening between Madison and Union on 14th.
- The Cuff is still holding it down on 13th between Pike and Pine.
- Add another Pike/Pine block party to the mix with an all-day event from Redhook Brewing on Pike between Harvard and Boylston.
- Again, pretty much every bar in Capitol Hill is having some sort of Pride thing, but since this is the Big Downtown Day, likely at least half the venues you step into are having a Pride thing.