OUR KIND OF TOWN

Chicago celebrates Pride in June with a month of musical and fun events, culminating this year with the city’s 50th Pride parade

There are always plenty of reasons to visit Chicago but if you’re going in June, don’t forget to pack something colourful because it’s Pride month.

The city is celebrating its 50th Pride with close to 100 social, cultural, athletic and political events across the entire city. Andersonville, the city’s second biggest gaybourhood, hosts the Midsommerfest street festival of art, retail, and music between 7 and 9 June. Then Chicago’s biggest gay area, Boystown, gets the party started with its

Pride Fest, a four- stage music festival on 22 and 23 June with acts including LeAnn Rimes, Brazilian drag sensation Pabllo Vittar, Glee’s Alex Newell and rising star Leland.

The famous comedy club, where the likes of Tina Fey and Steve Carell learnt their craft, provides laughs with the Second City’s Salute to Pride, the annual LGBTQ- identifying cast variety show every Tuesday and Wednesday in June.

The majority of events happen on the last weekend of the month, including on Saturday 29 June, Navy Pier Pride hosting a day of family- friendly events such as Storytime with Drag Queens and the new Queer the Pier fashion and music show. Or you can run along the lakefront in the Proud to Run’s 5K or 10K race. For those wanting more of a challenge, there’s also a half marathon.

Pride in the Park, another music festival is held in Grant Park on the same day, and will be headlined by Iggy Azalea and Steve Aoki before closing closes with a fireworks display.

Of course, the major event is The Pride Parade, which begins at noon on Sunday 30 June. This year’s theme is Millions of Moments of Pride.

And with more than 1,000,000 people regularly joining in the four- mile march, you’re bound to make new friends.

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“More than a million people join the four- mile march”