No Park, No Problem: Denver Pride Refuses to Shrink

Photo by Tyi Reddick

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people flock to downtown Denver to celebrate Pride. Typically taking place over a weekend at the end of June, the celebration turns the city into an electric experience filled with color, events, and opportunities for all ages to feel like they can show up as themselves. 

This year, Denver Pride will look much different. With both Colfax Avenue and Civic Center Park undergoing construction, the way Denver Pride has looked over the last 52 years has to change. 

“Rather than try to force the same experience into spaces that aren’t ready, we made a very intentional decision: to reimagine Pride with the community at the table,” said Kim Salvaggio, CEO at The Center on Colfax. 

The Center works year-round to form, fund and support spaces for LGBTQ+ youth and people in Denver and beyond. As the host organization of Denver Pride, their work recognizes and celebrates the community. 

“We are diverse, we are dynamic, and we are thriving,” said Salvaggio. “Pride this year reflects that. It gives people the chance to celebrate not only loudly and collectively, but also in ways that are joyful, connected, and aligned with who they are.”

Rather than focusing on celebrating over a single weekend, The Center has expanded Pride programming and events to take place throughout the month of June. This new era of Denver Pride allows folks to engage in an authentic way, with experiences that cater to many audiences, age groups, hobbies, interests, passions and more. 

Those who look forward to the annual 5K run, parade and festival do not have to fret. The experiences that are at the foundation of Pride will still take place, but in a different way. 

“They are deeply meaningful traditions for our community and continue to bring people together in powerful ways,” Salvaggio expressed.

The festival, taking place on 16th Street from Broadway to Arapahoe this year, boasts an array of entertainers across multiple stages, along with an exhibition experience for attendees called the “Gayborhood” as a way to highlight local Queer business owners, creatives and artists. 

New events in 2026 are referred to as “the new girls in town” by the team at The Center. 

From Bubbles and Boas at Cheesman Park to a gala at the Brown Palace Hotel to a Queer hike outing and everything in between, “these are the beginnings of new traditions, designed so that more people can see themselves at Pride,” shared Salvaggio. 

Proceeds from the Denver Pride fund The Center’s year-round efforts, allowing the team to offer free programs and services. 

“That includes access to 12 free mental health visits for community members, dozens of support groups, and ongoing programs that create connection, care, and belonging—all at no cost,” Salvaggio added. 

That’s why it’s important that both the community and its allies show up for Denver Pride this year. Showing up means buying tickets, attending events, supporting Queer individuals and businesses, and pouring into the community in any and every way that we can. 

The Center and all that it offers is growing, which is a beautiful thing, but also introduces tension. They are outgrowing their building, and have seen a 10% increase in demand for their services. Supporting Denver Pride allows The Center to support the needs of its growing community every single day. 

“We are in a moment that is asking a lot of our community, and all communities that face oppression. And at the same time, I have never been more certain of our strength,” Salvaggio expressed. “Our liberation is linked, and together we are incredibly strong.”

Denver often feels like a place where people can show up as themselves in a country that increasingly makes that difficult. The city’s minority communities face the same hardships as those in any major American metro, but Denverites show up for one another, especially in celebration. Denver Pride is proof, as the fifth-largest Pride festival in the country, drawing more than 550,000 attendees in 2025 and the only one of its scale led by a local LGBTQ+ community center.

“Whether it’s your first Pride or your fiftieth, this year is about honoring where we’ve been while expanding what Pride can be. History matters and so does making space for something new,” said Salvaggio. 

A Call to Action From the CEO

Salvaggio has been in her role at The Center for nearly a year. Alongside the changes to this year’s programming, it’s no secret that the LGBTQ+ community is under attack at a federal level. We asked Salvaggio what this means to her and her team, heading into an important transitional year for Denver Pride: 

“Pride has always held complexity, but right now it feels especially layered. We are living in a moment where there are more than 400 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being introduced across the country, where our Trans community is being directly targeted, and where nonprofits like ours are feeling the impact of shifting support and the defunding of DEI efforts.

And if I’m being honest, there’s a part of me that wants to respond by going bigger, to push harder, louder and more visibly than ever before.

But what this moment also called for was something more intentional.

This year’s shift to a month of programming wasn’t just about scale; it was about depth. It was about creating more ways for people to find connection, joy, resistance and rest, depending on what they need. Pride isn’t just one expression, and our community isn’t one thing. We needed to reflect that.

That’s the shift. I can’t say it was always comfortable, to know the historical physical places that held Pride were not going to be available, nor was a two-day free festival, we had a choice. We could go small, scale back and come back when the parks and streets re-opened and honestly, that didn’t feel right in the complexity of time we are living in right now. We need Pride to stand, and strongly. Our LGBTQ kids need it, having grown up in a time that demonizes our community. This was not the time to go small.

The attacks against our community are intentional and coordinated. They are designed to make people feel afraid and alone. And we are seeing the impact of that every day.

What we want people to feel when they leave Pride is the opposite of isolation. We want them to feel connected to something much bigger than any one of us. When you’re standing in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people across every age, identity, and life experience, you’re standing alongside millions of LGBTQ people across this country who are fighting every day to live freely and authentically.

Pride is a celebration of everything our community has achieved,  but it is also a reminder that this fight is not over, and that we are not fighting it alone. There is power in that. There is healing in that.

We hope people leave with that feeling in their chest, that electric sense of belonging that says: I am seen. I am not alone. And together, we are unstoppable.

That feeling is what has carried our community through every hardship we’ve ever faced. It’s what carried the activists who started Denver Pride in 1974, and it’s what will carry us forward now.”

Visit denverpride.org for details about the events and programming this year. Follow Denver Pride on Instagram for event announcements and more.