Bristol Pride is an annual festival in the city of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, championing equality and diversity across

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...

. Since 2010, the Bristol Pride festival has been organised by the charity 'Bristol Pride' (UK registered charity: 1166817). The festival is a fortnight of events in the city, and concludes with Pride Day on the second Saturday of July. Festival events include a mix of talks by prominent local activists and charities, screenings of LGBT films, performances, and various evenings of entertainment led by local drag artists. Pride Day includes the traditional Pride March, which begins in the city's Castle Park and ends at the Amphitheatre on the harbourside. Bristol Pride remains a free-to-attend festival, but encourages entry to the events by donation to enable the festival to continue.

History

The first Pride in Bristol was held in 1977 as a fundraiser for the Gay News blasphemy trial. The 1977 event evolved into Avon Pride and took place every year until around 1994. In 1991 a special postmark was issued to mark the 15th Pride festival in Bristol. A few small-scale festivals under the name Mardi Gras were held in the mid-2000s, with venues including the amphitheatre on Bristol harbourside and the Frogmore Street car park. After a gap of some years, Pride was resurrected in 2010. Held at first in Bristol's Castle Park, in 2012 it was moved to College Green as a one-off due to the presence of an

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

march in the city centre. From 2016 the festival moved from Castle Park to the

Bristol Harbour Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It is the former natural tidal river River Avon, Bristol, Avon through the city but was made into its current form in 1809 when the tide was preven ...

side, at

Millennium Square Millennium Square may refer to: *Millennium Square, Bristol *Millennium Square, Leeds *Millennium Square, Sheffield {{dab ...

and the Amphitheatre. In 2017, 36,000 people (including duplicated attendance) attended 19 events organised by Bristol Pride. To celebrate the tenth year of Bristol Pride in its current form and to accommodate ever-growing numbers of attendees, Bristol Pride moved the 2019 event from the Harbourside to the Downs, a large area of open public land in the north-west of the city. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the 2020 event was suspended and it was later announced that it would be online-only; the 2021 march was likewise cancelled due to

COVID-19 lockdowns During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of Non-pharmaceutical intervention (epidemiology), non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar socie ...

, but returned in 2022 with Pride Day festivities again being held on the Downs.

Headliners

Bristol Pride Day has included headline musical acts such as

Kelis Kelis Rogers (; born August 21, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and chef. She attended Manhattan, New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she played saxophone and was selected for the Girls Ch ...

Martha Wash Martha Elaine Wash (born December 28, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the The Weather Girls, Two Tons O' Fun, along with Izora Armstead, as they sang b ...

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and

Lisa Stansfield Lisa Jane Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her career began in 1980 when she won the singing competition ''Search for a Star''. After appearances in various television shows and releasing her first ...

. In 2018, singer Alexandra Burke, dance group

Snap! SNAP! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has undergone several lineup changes over the years, featuring American singers, songwriters, and rappers such as Thea Austin, Turbo ...

and indie band

Republica Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. They reached the height of their popularity from 1996 to 1999. The band went on hiatus in 2001 and reunited in 2008. The Republica sound was described by the band as " technopop p ...

headlined the festival. The 2019 Pride Day included a diverse line up including

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), commonly known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. W ...

, Sink The Pink, ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

'' alumni

Peppermint Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a Hybrid (biology), hybrid species of Mentha, mint, a cross between Mentha aquatica, watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in m ...

and the return of Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The 2022 Pride Day included

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

, Bright Light Bright Light, Toya Delazy and '' Canada's Drag Race'' winner Priyanka.

Gallery

File:Green Party at Bristol Pride (30767939418).jpg, Bristol

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

at Bristol Pride 2018 File:Main stage at Bristol Pride 2019.jpg, Main stage at Bristol Pride 2019 File:Bristol Pride 2022 115103.jpg, The start of the parade at Bristol Pride 2022 File:Bristol Pride 2022 120532.jpg, Bristol Anarchist Federation at Bristol Pride 2022 File:Bristol Pride 2022 122229125.jpg, Mr Leather UK and the Leather pride flag at Bristol Pride 2022 File:Bristol Pride 2022 123616682.jpg,

Drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

s at Bristol Pride 2022 File:Bristol Pride 2022 123837582.jpg, The end of the parade at Bristol Pride 2022

References

External links

* {{Pride parades Pride parades in England Organisations based in Bristol LGBTQ organisations in England 1997 establishments in England