Frequently Asked Questions

GENERAL FESTIVAL INFORMATION

  • Nashville Pride Festival is at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville, TN. The festival is on Saturday, June 22 from 11AM - 9PM and Sunday, June 23 from 11AM - 7PM.

    The Nashville Pride Parade will begin at Broadway and 8th Ave on Saturday June 22 at 10AM.

  • Yes, tickets are required for festival attendees. Some tickets are on sale now! Check back soon for more ticket types.

    Ages 10 and under can attend the event for free.

    The Nashville Pride Parade is free to attend.

    Visit our ticketing page for more info.

  • Yes. Make sure you get a hand stamp at the exit or keep your wristband on.

  • Downtown Nashville has lots of parking options. Check them out at this link: https://www.parkitdowntown.com/maps/interactive-map

    Please respect our Germantown neighbors if parking in local neighborhoods.

    We highly recommend using a ride share option. Drop off and pick up locations will be available closer to the event.

  • To see the schedule of Nashville bus routes, including a full map of the Nashville bus system, please visit the link below.

    Scroll down on the page to see a Trip Planner, which will create a bus route for you based on your start location and destination. To explore these resources, please visit

    https://www.wegotransit.com/ride/maps-schedules/bus/

  • Check back soon for our accommodation recommendations

  • The Nashville Pride Festival is a family friendly event. There is no age limit, all are welcome to attend. Attendees 10 and under do not require a ticket

    Free Kids and Youth activities will be available on the festival grounds. More info on that will be available soon.

  • We are sure your outfit is awesome. We ask that you please don't show your parts, and be respectful. Nashville Pride is a family-friendly festival.

  • Visit the information booth at the festival for specific vendor locations, or explore the whole festival to find your favorites!

  • There are shaded areas throughout the festival grounds.

  • The entertainment lineup has not been announced yet


ONSITE POLICIES

  • Nashville Pride aims to be accessible to all guests, continually working to improve accommodations for everyone to enjoy Pride. Accommodations include accessible venue entrances, ASL interpreters and viewing area, accessible restrooms, and more. Service animals are welcome at Nashville Pride.

    Check back soon for more information.

  • Outside food and alcohol are prohibited.

    Reusable/refillable water bottles are allowed and encouraged.

    Please see the full list of prohibited items below before arriving and be aware that all bags will be subject to search upon entry.

  • Nashville Pride merchandise is available to purchase at the festival at the Merchandise Tent.

  • Portable toilets will be located throughout the festival grounds. Hand sanitization centers will be located inside each restroom. Handicap restrooms will be available.

  • Yes, plenty of food trucks and vendors will be onsite at the festival. Check back soon for a list of food vendors!

  • The Nashville Pride Festival is rain or shine. Severe weather will be addressed separately and appropriately. Should anything change we will share schedule changes on our social channels.

  • We love pets but it's too hot and crowded, so please leave your pets at home.

  • No. Smoking is not allowed at any event as it may disturb others in attendance.

  • Lost & found items should be brought to the Festival Information booth. Items will be held for 14 days following the event. Reach out to info@nashvillepride.org regarding lost and found items

  • Free water refill stations will be available for onsite, so be sure you are staying hydrated! We highly encourage bringing a refillable water bottle to the festival.

ALLOWED AND PROHIBITED ITEMS

  • The following items and activities are prohibited at this event:

    • Outside food or drink, including alcoholic beverages.

    • Scooters/Bikes

    • Amplified sound systems

    • Disorderly conduct

    • Littering

    • Advertising, selling, or promoting any third party product (including, but not limited to, food and beverage items)

    • Fireworks

    • Generators

    • Grills or fryers

    • Kerosene lamps or open flames of any kind

    • Laser pointers

    • Drones

    • Noisemakers

    • Tents, stand umbrellas, and tarps

    • Weapons of any kind

    Please be aware that all bags, backpacks, etc. will be subject to search upon entry into the festival. Prohibited items will be confiscated and will not be held for later pickup.

  • The following items are allowed:

    • Blankets

    • Lawn chairs

    • Strollers (including wagons)

    • Coolers (no alcohol or glass containers, will be searched at the gate)

    • Water bottles are allowed. Reusable/Refillable bottles are allowed (no alcohol).

    • Water, Water, Water. Refillable water bottles are encouraged. Water refill stations are located inside the festival.

TICKETING

  • General Admission tickets include:

    • access to the festival

    • entertainment on three stages

    • local food trucks and vendors

    • festival bars

    • free kids & family activities

    • and more!

    GA attendees will be able to see all the entertainment Nashville Pride has to offer.

    Upgraded ticket holders get plenty of fun perks, including a reserved viewing area next to the Main Stage, catered meals, dedicated VIP bars, access to an exclusive Pride kick-off event, and more!

  • Some ticket types are on sale now! Check back soon for more ticket types. Visit our ticketing page for more info.

  • Please present your ticket at the gate entrance for contact-free scanning. Tickets can be printed in advance or you can show your ticket on your phone.

  • Yes, tickets will be available at the gate.

  • No, all sales are final and there will be no refunds. You may transfer your ticket to another attendee.

  • You may transfer your ticket to another person. There will be no refunds.

  • The Nashville Pride Festival works directly with a private security company and a number of city and state entities to advise and implement safety measures around the festival each year. A few of those are outlined below.

    The entire festival is fenced with controlled access

    All patron bags and checked at the festival entrances

    Uniformed security presence throughout the festival and parade

    No guns or weapons of any kind are allowed through the gates

    A number of other measures are in place but are kept confidential to ensure the integrity of those protocols.

    Please review the allowed and prohibited items list for a stress-free entry process, and email info@nashvillepride.org if you have questions. Prohibited items will be confiscated and will not be held for later pickup.

    REMEMBER: You’re the eyes and ears of the festival. If you see something suspicious, say something.

  • The Nashville Pride Festival and Parade is meant to be a safe place where people celebrate LGBTQ+ history and build diverse, loving, and understanding communities. For many community members who have experienced police brutality, the presence of uniformed officers and police at Pride does not create this safe environment.

    The Nashville Pride Festival and Parade uses a private security contractor for both the festival and parade unless necessary for road closures or other permitting regulations.

SECURITY MEASURES

HOW TO GET HELP

  • If you or a friend need emergency assistance at the festival, go to the medical tent located near the main entrance on 6th Ave N. or ask anyone with a staff shirt for assistance.

    Be honest with emergency personnel – they are here to help you, NOT get you in trouble. If you see someone who looks like they need help, look for any festival staff members or anyone with a radio to assist you.

  • The medical tent is located near the main festival entrance on 6th Ave N.

    If you have any questions, find a staff member or anyone with an event radio, we are happy to help you to the best of our ability.

  • Head to the Festival Information tent at the southeast end of the festival in front of the main stage.

GET INVOLVED

  • Thank you for your support. For information regarding sponsorships, please visit this page

  • Thank you for your interest! Vendor applications are now closed for 2024

  • Thank you for getting involved! Volunteer signups will be available soon. Once posted, signups will be found on the festival website.

  • Bicentennial Capital Mall State Park is on state property which prohibits display of campaign signs, banners, advertising, etc. (Little Hatch Act, TCA 2-19-206). For this reason, political party candidates are not able to become a vendor at Nashville Pride.

    Political Party Candidates can, however, participate in the Nashville Pride Parade. Click HERE for the application.

NASHVILLE PRIDE FESTIVAL CODE OF CONDUCT

  • Nashville Pride is a welcoming place to come together with friends, family, and loved ones to celebrate the progress of the LGBTQ+ community. Our code of conduct is designed to ensure the parade and festival are safe and accepting spaces for everyone and that everyone is treated with courtesy and respect.

    1. Nashville Pride is a celebration recognizing the past struggles and future possibilities of the LGBTQ+ community. All participants in the parade and festival are expected to embrace and respect this.

    2. Nashville Pride is a safe space and will not tolerate any threatening, violent, harassing, or offensive behavior against its volunteers, staff, artists, performers, festival goers, parade participants, security personnel or members of the public.

    3. Nashville Pride celebrates diversity and will not tolerate any individual making derogatory remarks about a person's age, race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, size, wardrobe, physical ability, economic status, and/or religion.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF NASHVILLE PRIDE?

  • A culmination of events led to the birth of Nashville’s first PRIDE event in 1988. In 1987, following organizing that resulted in the founding of T-GALA (Tennessee Gay and Lesbian Alliance), two chartered buses took members of Nashville’s LGBT community and their supporters to Washington D.C. to participate in the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. That same year, Stewart Biven and Jeff Ellis began publishing Dare (later Query), Nashville’s first LGBT publication.

    Members of the local community, with the help of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, were able to put together Nashville’s first PRIDE March in June 1988. A modest 125 people met at Fannie Mae Dees (Dragon) Park that year with signs, walked through Vanderbilt University and then across West End Avenue into Centennial Park.

    In 1995, PRIDE co-chairs Linda Welch and Brad Beasley moved the event to Riverfront Park and for the first time were able to raise enough money to have a police officer on each street corner to block traffic, allowing for horses, motorcycles and floats.

    Pam Wheeler, community activist and current co-host of Out & About Today, got involved with Pride in early 2000, a time when Nashville PRIDE almost didn’t happen. It was nearing time for the annual event but no one knew who was in charge of planning.

    About 70 people attended the meeting and with just 90 short days for planning, then Pride President Raney Pollos, with help from community leaders Keith Hinkle, Matthew Strader, Wheeler and a few others, successfully pulled off Nashville Pride 2000 at the Bicentennial Mall.

    Over the next few years, a dedicated group of volunteers focused on the growth of the festival and wrangled their experiences together to create PRIDE events unique to Nashville and spent months planning the event, running TV and radio ads for the first time and bringing in new local and national sponsors. The crowd grew exponentially through the early 2000s and reached the volume most people recognize as Nashville Pride today.

    In 2009 the festival was moved from its Centennial Park home to Riverfront Park in downtown Nashville with Deborah Cox headlining that year. National attention was garnered by the festival in 2010 when headlining entertainer, Vanessa Carlton, came out to a record number of attendees.

    In 2014 organizers moved the event from Riverfront Park to the highly visible location in the heart of downtown Nashville at Public Square Park where the event drew a record number of attendees and vendors to the threshold of city government. This was also the first year the festival added a Friday night concert prior to the Saturday Festival. The annual Equality Walk was also started in 2014 drawing an estimated 2,500 that first year.

    In 2015, during Nashville Pride weekend festivities, the Supreme Court Ruled that states must allow same-sex marriage and the festival reached new levels of attendees and excitement with more than 18,000 LGBT people and allies celebrating the decision together at Public Square Park. The Equality Walk kicked off with the wedding of Al Gregory and Toby Sturgill.

    The following year also saw a boost in attendance on the heels of the tragic mass shooting at Pulse Night Club, though the tone of the Festival was less celebratory than in years past. This time more than any other in the past 10 years, people were coming together to support each other and raise awareness for the ongoing need to advance LGBT rights and acceptance. More than 5,000 people participated in the annual Equality Walk, far exceeding the prior year’s numbers, in a show of solidarity and strength.

    In 2017, the two-day festival smashed attendance records with more than 35,000 people congregating at Public Square park with an impressive lineup of corporate sponsors - including long-time presenting sponsor Bridgestone and supported by Nissan, Delta Air Lines, Genesco, Journeys, Miller Lite, Jack Daniels, Dollar General, Tribe, Play Dance Bar, Curb Records and many more - and premier entertainers including Lizzo, Conrad Sewell, Big Freedia, La Bouche, CeCe Peniston, Ty Herndon, Julien Baker, Ezra Furman, and many others.

    Also in 2017, the Metro Historical Commission approved Nashville’s first marker recognizing an LGBT rights activist, Penny Campbell, who passed away in 2014. Campbell organized the city’s first pride parade in 1988 during the height of the AIDS epidemic. She also acted as the lead plaintiff in the court case that decriminalized homosexual acts in Tennessee.

Didn’t answer your question? Reach out to info@nashvillepride.org with remaining questions. Thanks!