America’s First-Ever National Coming Out Parade is Happening in Philly Featuring The Largest Gay Pride Flag in PA
Philadelphia is ready to make history once again. Pride 365: A Program of Galaei presents the inaugural Philadelphia OURfest: National Coming Out Parade and Festival/Resource Fair, the first National Coming Out Parade in the United States. OURfest weekend will kick-off on Friday, October 6th with a OURfest Welcome Party and Parade Preview at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. On Saturday, October 7th, the OURfest National Coming Out Parade will debut from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, stepping off in Historic Philadelphia at 5th and Market to Broad and Arch. On Sunday, October 8th, from 12:00pm to 7:00pm, OURfest National Coming Out Festival and Resource Fair will take over the Gayborhood and Midtown Village with hundreds of vendors, entertainers, artists, restaurants, food trucks and community organizations.
OURfest looks to make history as the only parade in the country dedicated and inspired by National Coming Out Day. Grand marshals for the historic event will be Giselle Fetterman, Robert Drake, Celena Morrison, Rue Landau, Jose Demarco and Legendary. Individuals, groups and businesses still interested in joining the parade line-up – or for the festival and resource fair – can visit nationalcomingout.org/
Philadelphia is a city of historic firsts – and the organization that broke records in June for “largest Gay Pride march and festival in Philadelphia history” and “largest Gay Pride Flag in Pennsylvania history” is ready to do it all over again.
After a few years of pride programming being in flux, Galaei, a historic organization serving queer, trans, black, brown, indigenous, and people of color, has taken up the mantle for programming under the banner of Pride 365. This new program provided the Philadelphia Gay Pride March and Festival with new leadership, new stability and a renewed sense of community and purpose. Now, after the pandemic and a three year absence, Galaei’s Pride 365 Initiative will bring new life back to National Coming Out Day/Weekend in October – and present a new line-up of events with the new OURfest parade and resource fair/festival.
“We developed Galaei’s Pride 365 Initiative to redefine and elevate Pride Month Month in June – and we are excited to do the same thing in October for National Coming Out Day/Weekend,” said Galaei Executive Director and Community Organizer Tyrell Brown (they/them). “Gay Pride and National Coming Out are crucial opportunities for our communities to join together in celebration and reflection, to find family and togetherness, to have access to resources, and to share the love, art and joy that are hallmarks of our community.”
Brown added, “For National Coming Out, we see this is a key opportunity to share and celebrate our collective and individual stories of coming out. The parade allows for our community to experience and enjoy a visual display of how far we’ve come, to watch a moving and powerful show together, and to take a moment to enjoy the story of our coming out.”
OURFEST WEEKEND
OURfest stands for Our Uniting Resilience and these new events are being created to amplify the resilience of our people, our individual journeys in coming out, and how we hold and take up space everyday. OURfest will launch with three tentpole events during the weekend:
OURfest: Welcome Party, Parade Preview and VIP Reception will take place on Friday, October 6, 2023, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
OURfest: National Coming Out Parade will take place on Saturday, October 7, 2023, from 4:00pm to 6:00pm, from 5th and Market to Broad and Arch.
OURfest: National Coming Out Festival will take place on Sunday, October 8, 2023, from 12:00pm to 7:00pm, with resource fair and family zone from 12:00pm to 5:00pm, and last call for mobile bars/food trucks at 6:30pm.
OURFEST: WELCOME PARTY AND PARADE PREVIEW
OURfest: Welcome Party, Parade Preview and VIP Reception will take place on Friday, October 6, 2023, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Tickets are sale now for $50 each to support the weekend events – and tickets include a private exclusive preview of the parade floats, music spinning from DJ Robert Drake, cash bar, and lite bites. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Aramark, Strother Enterprises and Legacy Culinary Group for their support.
