City of Long Beach cancels Pride Festival this weekend, Pride Parade still taking place Sunday
The City of Long Beach is hosting the annual Pride Parade on Sunday, but the bulk of the weekend’s scheduled events are not happening. The Pride Festival at Marina Green Park has been cancelled due to safety permitting issues, according to the city.
According to an official city news release, the Long Beach Pride Festival “Will not be able to take place this year as sufficient information to safely permit the event has not been made available by the event organizers.”
The festival runs independently from the city and was scheduled to begin today at 5 p.m., but the city said just a half hour before, at 4:30 p.m., the required documentation still had not been submitted, causing a last-minute cancellation. The event requires the submission of detailed operational, construction and public safety plans.
“The City did not receive the required documentation needed to complete safety reviews, inspect critical event infrastructure, such as the stage, electrical systems and tent, and emergency exiting plans to ensure compliance with public safety standards,” the City of Long Beach wrote in a news release.
The Pride Parade, with 141 entries, the most ever, according to the city, will go on as scheduled Sunday, May 17, starting at 10 a.m.
Long Beach Pride issued the following statement:
“Long Beach Pride is deeply disappointed by the City of Long Beach’s decision to cancel the Long Beach Pride Festival, a long-standing community institution that has stood for more than four decades as a symbol of visibility, resilience, belonging, and equality.”
“We call on the City of Long Beach, Mayor Rex Richardson, the City Council, and public safety partners to engage in good faith with Long Beach Pride to identify a responsible path forward that preserves the festival, protects public safety, and honors the community this event was created to serve.”
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