The sun shone down on Bristol as the city celebrated the 15th Anniversary of Bristol Pride on The Downs on Saturday, 13 July, which was the culmination of over 40 events in the city.
The events started with the Parade March in the city centre which saw over 20,000 people march for equality and stand up to hatred and prejudice. The procession, led by Pride Director Daryn Carter MBE and the Lord Mayor of Bristol, featured a 100-metre giant rainbow flag, hundreds of community groups and businesses, music, samba bands and even a speed boat! The march filled the whole route from Castle Park to the Harbourside several times over and crowds lined the route to cheer people on.
Over on The Downs, five stages of music and entertainment saw incredible performances including local and upcoming talent on the Uplift Stage, local dance groups, and stars of Ru Paul’s Drag Race headlining the Cabaret Stage. The Main Stage saw spectacular performances from Claire Richards from STEPS, dance act Georgia, and electro band Ladytron. Headliners The Human League stole the show with an hour-long performance of hits to close the festival to a packed audience.
Organisers of Bristol Pride, which won Best Pride Organisation in national awards earlier this year, marked their 15th Anniversary of delivering the festival with its biggest ever line up of events and programming. They celebrated the huge success of this weekend’s event, welcoming over 40,000 people through the gates to the festival.
Daryn Carter, Bristol Pride director, said: “It’s been an incredible festival this year and yesterday’s event was such a joyful and successful event, full of love and community, and the atmosphere was electric.
“It’s amazing to think how far we have come in the last 15 years; we are now one of the largest Pride events in the UK and again saw record numbers joining us for the festival this year.
“There were so many special moments across Pride Day with so many of the artists saying how incredible the crowds were and how special Bristol Pride is.”
The event on The Downs offered donation entry to ensure that no one is excluded from being able to attend Pride, anybody who missed the chance to donate on the day are able to do so online to help support the event’s year-round work, and the 2025 event which organisers are already busy planning.
